Toshiro Mifune

Okay, can we talk about how this guy could act with his whole body and barely say a word? Mifune just stands there, scratches his neck, twitches an eyebrow, and suddenly the whole frame is electric. His run with Kurosawa is one of the greatest actor-director partnerships in film history, full stop. Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Red Beard, Throne of Blood, Hidden Fortress, the kind of run other people only dream about. He was the original badge of cool the West borrowed from for decades. And the wild contrast, this animal intensity on screen, then a guy who cooked for his army comrades and even ran a restaurant, makes me love him even more. Toshiro Mifune just radiated a presence nobody's quite matched since.

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.

Toshiro Mifune (1920–1997) was a Japanese actor widely regarded as one of the greatest screen performers in cinema history, known internationally as "Mifune of the World." Born in Qingdao, Shandong, China, and later based in Japan, he made his film debut in 1947 as a first-generation Toho New Face and forged a celebrated collaboration with director Akira Kurosawa on landmark films including Rashomon (1950) and Seven Samurai (1954). He founded Mifune Productions in 1962 and received major honors including multiple Venice International Film Festival acting prizes and France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Name (English)

Toshiro Mifune

Name (Japanese)

三船敏郎

Reading

みふね としろう

Born

April 1, 1920 – December 24, 1997

Origin

Qingdao, Shandong, China (birthplace); later Dalian, China

Height

170 cm

Occupation

Actor / Film Director / Film Producer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Monkey

Blood type

O

Agency

Mifune Productions

Agency history

Toho (1947–)
Mifune Productions (founded 1962; affiliated)

Active years

1947–1997

High school

Dalian Middle School

University

Did not attend

Debut

1947, debuted in the film The Culmination of Snow as a first-generation Toho New Face

Awards & achievements

• 1951 Blue Ribbon Award – Best Actor (Baku Ichiday)
• 1951 Venice International Film Festival – Golden Lion (for his starring film Rashomon)
• 1961 Blue Ribbon Award – Best Actor (Yojimbo)
• 1961 Venice International Film Festival – Best Actor (Yojimbo)
• 1961 Kinema Junpo Award – Best Actor (Yojimbo)
• 1965 Blue Ribbon Award – Best Actor (Red Beard)
• 1965 Venice International Film Festival – Best Actor (Red Beard)
• 1968 Kinema Junpo Award – Best Actor (Kurobe no Taiyo)
• 1986 Medal with Purple Ribbon (Japan)
• 1989 Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)
• 1993 Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class (Japan)

Timeline

1. 1920Born in Qingdao, Shandong, China
2. 1925Moved to Dalian with his family
3. 1940Conscripted into the Imperial Army; assigned to the 7th Army Aviation Training Corps photography unit in Manchuria
4. 1946Passed the Toho first-generation New Face audition
5. 1947Made his acting debut in The Culmination of Snow, directed by Senkichi Taniguchi from a script by Akira Kurosawa
6. 1951His starring film Rashomon won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival
7. 1954Release of Seven Samurai, establishing his worldwide fame
8. 1962Founded Mifune Productions
9. 1965Won Best Actor at the Venice International Film Festival for Red Beard — his second such award
10. 1997Died on December 24 of multiple organ failure at a hospital in Mitaka, Tokyo, at age 77

Spouse

Sachiko Yoshimine (married 1950, died 1995)

Children

Son Mifune Shiro (born 1950); daughter Mifune Mika (born 1982, mother: Kitakawa Mika)

Hobbies

• Cooking
• Sewing

Specialties

• Cooking (Chinese cuisine and Western pastries)
• Calligraphy

Works summary

Appearances

24

By year (titles with a known year)

2017: 1, year unknown: 23

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttp://www.mifuneproductions.co.jp/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E8%88%B9%E6%95%8F%E9%83%8E
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37001

Tags

• Actor
• Akira Kurosawa
• Seven Samurai
• Rashomon
• Yojimbo
• Mifune of the World
• Showa Cinema
• Mifune Productions

Last updated

October 18, 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.