Tatsuya Nakadai, a renowned Japanese leading man, holds a significant position among the scarce group of Japanese actors widely recognized globally. Prior to his acting career, Nakadai was a tall and handsome clerk in a Tokyo shop, where he caught the attention of director Masaki Kobayashi, who subsequently cast him in the 1956 film "The Thick-Walled Room". This marked the beginning of Nakadai's journey to stardom, as he went on to play the lead role in Kobayashi's monumental trilogy "Ningen no joken", earning him international acclaim rivaling that of his countryman, Toshirô Mifune.
Like Mifune, Nakadai frequently collaborated with director Akira Kurosawa, and after the well-documented falling out between Mifune and Kurosawa, Nakadai effectively replaced Mifune as Kurosawa's primary leading man. Nakadai's appearances in Kurosawa's films, including "Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior" (1980) and "Ran" (1985),are considered some of the most enduring in the director's body of work.
