Yôko Shimada

Yôko Shimada was born on May 17, 1953 in Japan. Yôko Shimada's big-screen debut came with Kimba, the White Lion directed by Eiichi Yamamoto in 1966. Yôko Shimada is known for Shogun directed by Jerry London, Richard Chamberlain stars as Anjin-san and Toshirô Mifune as Lord Yoshi Toranaga. Yôko Shimada has got 1 awards and 1 nominations so far. The most recent award Yôko Shimada achieved is Golden Globes, USA. The upcoming new movie Yôko Shimada plays is To Live as an Actress which will be released on Oct 16, 2010.

Kumamoto City-born Shimada Yoko is best known in the west as Mariko from the 1980 mini-series Shogun. The lady-in-waiting role created an interest in Japan and its culture overseas and introduced Japanese history to foreign audiences. She won the Golden Globe For Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Drama category and was nominated for a Prime-time Emmy Award for her work on the serial in 1981. Shimada, who spoke some English for the serial, had been acting for years prior to Shogun however. She began learning ballet since age three and wanted to become a ballerina until her high high school days. Her family had moved to Tokyo when she was eight. She obtained an agent and began acting while in junior high school. The TV serial Zoku Hyouten made her famous beginning 1970. She released a nude photo book, called Kir Royal, in 1992. She was 39 and the photo book became a bestseller shifting half a million copies. At 57 she starred in an 'AV' pornography video called Mikkai in 2011. This was a tribute to her body even at that age. Shimada has a reservation for a space burial.