Koji Yakusho

Koji Yakusho
  

Kōji Hashimoto (橋本 広司, Hashimoto Kōji, born 1 January 1956), known professionally as Kōji Yakusho (役所 広司, Yakusho Kōji), is a Japanese actor. He is known for his starring roles in Shall We Dance? (1996), 13 Assassins (2010), The Third Murder (2017), The Blood of Wolves (2018), Under the Open Sky (2020) and The Days (2023). He is best known internationally for his role as Takuro Yamashita in Shōhei Imamura's The Eel (1997) and as Yasujiro Wataya in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel (2006).

Early life and education
Yakusho was born in Isahaya, Nagasaki, the youngest of five brothers. After graduation from Nagasaki Prefectural High School of Technology in 1974, he worked at the Chiyoda municipal ward office, or kuyakusho, in Tokyo, from which he later took his stage name.


Movies