Teruyuki Kagawa

Biography

Born in 1965, his parents are the kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke III and the cinema actress Yuko Hama. His grandmother is the film actress Sanae Takasugi.

In the Kabuki world, it is usual for the son of an actor to follow the father's footsteps since very early ages, but his parents divorced in 1968 and his mother was given the custody of him. After that event, he never saw his father again, and his mother refused to give him any training on the Kabuki art and he grew believing that it was "something that must not be watched". However he tried several times to meet his biological father. When he was 20, he went to one of his performances and asked if he could see him, stating that he was Ennosuke's son, but when his father's assistants reported to him the situation he refused, stating that he didn't have any son.

He graduated in social psychology at the University of Tokyo and decided to start a career in cinema.

Career

He has twice been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award at the Japanese Academy Awards, once for Warau Iemon and once for Kita no zeronen. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 33rd Japan Academy Prize for Mt. Tsurugidake.

Reconciliation with his father

His first son Masaaki, born in 2004, shown interest in becoming a Kabuki actor. As a result, Teruyuki tried again to meet with his aged father and succeeded.

At the same time, he decided to start his own career in Kabuki, at an age which is extremely unusual for an actor. The only time it happened was in 1910, when Ichikawa Danjuro IX's adopted and then son-in-law Ichikawa Sansho V decided to start his career at age 28 after his adoptive father's death.

In 2011, it was announced that on June 2012 he and his son, at their father and cousin's Shūmei, they would have taken the names, respectively, of Ichikawa Chusha IX and Ichikawa Danko V.

Awards