Yoko Shimada

Acting May 17, 1953 Jul 25, 2022 (aged 69) Kumamoto, Japan

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.

47 Acting Credits

Yoko Shimada

Acting

Crying Freeman

Shōgun

The Hunted

The Castle of Sand

The Inugami Family

The Deep Red

I Am a Cat

Labyrinth Romanesque

Undiscovered Tomb

The Sino-Dutch War 1661

Go Go Kamen Rider

Dog of Fortune

River Without a Bridge

Dead Angle

Truckster Goes to Hokkaido

Brothers Serving Time

Kanon

My Champion

The Man Who Assassinated Ryoma

Mikkai

Dear Heart

Shogun

Gotoshi Co. Ltd. Special Police Department Crime Prevention Division No. 5104 Case

Dohten