Shinobu Otake

Okay, let me just say it: Shinobu Otake might be the single most fearless actress Japan has produced. The woman won Best Actress AND Best Supporting Actress at the same Japan Academy ceremony in 1978, which still feels like cheating. What I love is that there's no vanity in her work, she'll go ugly, raw, unhinged, whatever the role demands, then chase it years later in a quiet stunner like Poppoya or the Moscow-winning Ashura. She came up in the seventies, conquered TV in the Danjo 7-nin era, and never coasted, she just kept reinventing on stage and screen into her sixties. The tabloid stuff with Sanma is fun gossip, sure, but it's the craft that gets me. I'd watch her read a phone book and still cry.

Shinobu Otake is a Japanese actress, singer, and entertainer born on July 17, 1957, in Shinagawa, Tokyo. She made her debut in 1973 in the television drama Boku wa Jogakusei and rose to prominence with the NHK serial drama Mizuiro no Toki in 1975. At the 2nd Japan Academy Prize ceremony in 1978, she became the only actress in the award's history to win both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress prizes in the same year. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she has received numerous honors including the Best Actress prize at the 2003 Moscow International Film Festival and the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2011.

Name (English)

Shinobu Otake

Name (Japanese)

大竹しのぶ

Reading

おおたけしのぶ

Born

July 17, 1957 (age 69)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Rooster

Origin

Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan

Blood type

A

Height

158 cm

Agency

Esther

Active years

1973–present

Occupation

Actress / Singer / Entertainer

High school

Tokyo Metropolitan Koiwa High School

University

Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music, Drama Department (withdrew)

Debut

Debuted in 1973 in the television drama Boku wa Jogakusei. Made her full film debut in 1975 playing the heroine in Gate of Youth: Chikuho.

Awards & achievements

• 1978 2nd Japan Academy Prize – Best Actress (Jiken)
• 1978 2nd Japan Academy Prize – Best Supporting Actress (Seishoku no Hi)
• 1978 33rd Agency for Cultural Affairs Art Festival Award – Excellence Prize, Drama Division (NHK-FM Uminari)
• 2000 23rd Japan Academy Prize – Best Actress (Poppoya)
• 2003 Moscow International Film Festival – Best Actress (Like Asura)
• 2003 Yomiuri Theatre Award – Best Actress
• 2004 Arts Encouragement Prize of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
• 2011 Medal with Purple Ribbon
• 2017 59th Blue Ribbon Award – Best Actress (The Second Wife)
• 2019 44th Kikuta Kazuo Theatre Award

Timeline

1. 1973Made her entertainment industry debut in the television drama Boku wa Jogakusei
2. 1975Played the heroine in the film Gate of Youth: Chikuho; gained wide recognition as the heroine of the NHK serial drama Mizuiro no Toki
3. 1978Won both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress at the 2nd Japan Academy Prize — the only actress to achieve the double in the same year
4. 1982Married TBS drama director Haruji Hattori
5. 1985Elder son Nichika was born
6. 1986Appeared in TBS drama Seven People in Summer, a major hit
7. 1987Husband Haruji Hattori passed away; appeared in TBS drama Seven People in Autumn
8. 1988Married comedian Sanma Akashiya
9. 1989Elder daughter IMALU was born
10. 1992Divorced Sanma Akashiya; retained custody of both children
11. 1999Appeared in the film Poppoya (Railroad Man)
12. 2003Won Best Actress at the Moscow International Film Festival for the film Like Asura
13. 2011Awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon
14. 2016Starred in the film The Second Wife

Spouse

Haruji Hattori (married 1982, widowed 1987); Sanma Akashiya (married 1988, divorced 1992)

Children

Elder son Nichika (with Haruji Hattori); elder daughter IMALU (with Sanma Akashiya)

Hobbies

• Private

Specialties

• Acting
• Singing

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.otake-shinobu.com/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/shinobu717_official/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E7%AB%B9%E3%81%97%E3%81%AE%E3%81%B6

Tags

• Actress
• From Shinagawa, Tokyo
• Esther
• Japan Academy Prize
• Poppoya
• Seven People in Summer
• Like Asura
• Medal with Purple Ribbon

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.