Takako Matsu

Honestly, Takako Matsu could have coasted forever on that kabuki pedigree, but instead she went and earned everything herself, which is the part that gets me. I first knew her from that shy, sunny Long Vacation smile in the '90s, and I figured she was just a charming romantic-drama lead. Then Confession happened, and that cold, quiet stare rewired my brain — she can make a flat, gentle voice feel genuinely menacing, and it sits right next to this real elegance. And then, of course, she's Elsa, letting that crystal-clear voice soar through Let It Go, even singing at the Oscars. The range is almost unfair. What I love most is that despite the high-society background, she always finds the small, human, ordinary truth in a role. That balance is rare, and it keeps me watching.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Takako Matsu (born June 10, 1977) is a Japanese actress, singer, and voice actress from Tokyo, born into one of kabuki's most distinguished lineages as the daughter of the second-generation Matsumoto Hakuo. She made her stage debut at the Kabukiza Theatre in 1993 and broke into mainstream television with the 1996 Fuji TV drama Long Vacation, going on to win the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Actress for Villon's Wife. She is also internationally recognized for voicing and singing as Elsa in the Japanese-language release of Disney's Frozen (2014), and in 2020 sang a line of "Into the Unknown" alongside Elsa's voice actresses from around the world at the Academy Awards ceremony.

Name (English)

Takako Matsu

Name (Japanese)

松 たか子

Reading

まつ たかこ

Real name

佐橋 隆子

Born

June 10, 1977 (age 49)

Origin

Tokyo, Japan

Height

165 cm

Occupation

Actress / Singer / Voice Actress

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Snake

Blood type

A

Agency

Swingby

Active years

1993–present

Junior high

Shirayuri Gakuen Junior High School

High school

Horigoshi High School (transferred from Shirayuri Gakuen High School)

University

Asia University (withdrew)

Debut

Made her stage debut at the Kabukiza Theatre in the play Ninjobanashi Bunshichi Mottoi in 1993; television drama debut in the 1994 NHK taiga drama Hana no Ran; singer debut with the single "Ashita, Haru ga Kitara" in 1997.

Awards & achievements

• 28th Japan Academy Film Prize – Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Kakushi Ken Oni no Tsume, 2005)
• 31st Japan Academy Film Prize – Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad, 2008)
• 33rd Japan Academy Film Prize – Best Actress (Villon's Wife, 2010)
• 34th Japan Academy Film Prize – Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Confessions, 2011)
• 2018 Confidence Award Drama Prize Annual Grand Prize 2017 – Best Actress (Quartet)
• Television Drama Academy Award – Best Actress (Quartet, 2017)

Timeline

1. 1977Born in Tokyo; father is Matsumoto Hakuo II (then known as the sixth Ichikawa Somegoro), a leading figure in kabuki.
2. 1993Stage debut at the Kabukiza Theatre in Ninjobanashi Bunshichi Mottoi.
3. 1994Television drama debut in the NHK taiga drama Hana no Ran.
4. 1996Appeared in the Fuji TV drama Long Vacation, rising to nationwide fame.
5. 1997Singer debut with the single "Ashita, Haru ga Kitara"; first appearance on NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen.
6. 2007Married guitarist and music producer Yoshiyuki Sahashi.
7. 2010Starred in the hit film Confessions (the same year she won Best Actress at the 33rd Japan Academy Film Prize for Villon's Wife)
8. 2014Voiced and sang as Elsa in the Japanese-language release of Disney's Frozen.
9. 2015Gave birth to her first daughter.
10. 2020Performed at the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, becoming the first Japanese performer to sing at the event.

Spouse

Yoshiyuki Sahashi (guitarist and music producer; married 2007)

Children

First daughter (born 2015)

Parents

Father: Matsumoto Hakuo II (kabuki actor); Mother: Noriko Fujima

Siblings

Older brother: Matsumoto Koshiro X (kabuki actor); Older sister: Nobu Matsumoto (actress)

Hobbies

• Piano
• Listening to music

Specialties

• Nihon Buyo classical dance (Matsumoto school licensed holder)
• Singing
• Kabuki

Works summary

Appearances

312 (1984–2026)

By year (titles with a known year)

1984: 1, 1985: 1, 1988: 1, 1993: 3, 1994: 6, 1995: 4, 1996: 6, 1997: 14, 1998: 12, 1999: 9, 2000: 9, 2001: 13, 2002: 10, 2003: 10, 2004: 10, 2005: 4, 2006: 14, 2007: 8, 2008: 3, 2009: 9, 2010: 7, 2011: 10, 2012: 4, 2013: 5, 2014: 7, 2015: 7, 2016: 7, 2017: 9, 2018: 11, 2019: 11, 2020: 6, 2021: 5, 2022: 8, 2023: 5, 2024: 1, 2025: 11, 2026: 3, year unknown: 48

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://www.matsutakako.jp/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%BE%E3%81%9F%E3%81%8B%E5%AD%90
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1142313

Tags

• From Tokyo
• Swingby
• Actress
• Singer
• Voice Actress
• Elsa
• Confessions
• Kabuki lineage
• Quartet

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.