Kiichi Nakai

Born in 1961 as a son of Keiji Sada, popular movie actor, who passed away when Nakai was 2 and half years old. His older sister, Kie Nakai, is also an actress.

Nakai started his movie career while he was in university, in "Rengo Kantai", and was awarded the Rookie of the Year of Japan Academy Awards in 1981. He popularity soared in 1983 when he starred in TV drama "Fuzoroi no Ringo-tachi (Uneven Apples)", and continued to play in wide range of movies and TV dramas, including both modern and period dramas.

He won Japan Academy Best Supporting Actor award in 1994 ("47 Ronin") and Best Actor award in 2003 ("When the Last Sword is Drawn").

Some of his other popular performances include "The Burmese Harp" (85), "Takeda Shingen" (TV, 88), Onmyji 2 (2003), and is currently playing in TV drama series "Yoshitsune" (05). He plays a terrorist in "Aegis" (05), which is coming soon in Japan.

In 2003, as his first international work, Nakai played an ancient Japanese delegate to China in "Warriors of Heaven and Earths" (China), with all the lines in Mandarin. His second Chinese movie work, "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles", co-starring with Ken Takakura, is currently under production.

Japan Academy Award Best Actor
Won: 2003 ("When the Last Sword is Drawn"), 1994 ("47 Ronin", supporting actor), 1981 ("Rengo Kantai", rookie of the year)
Nominated: 1999 ("Fukuro no Shiro"), 1995 ("Marks no Shiro")