Masao Kusakari

Masao Kusakari was born in Fukuoka Prefecture to a Japanese mother Sueko from Yukuhashi, and an American father Robert H. Tolar from Tar Heel, North Carolina, a USAF mailman who was deployed to Tsuiki Base during Korean War. Masao was told by Sueko (who died in 2010) that Robert had died in the Korean War, and he believed so,^[1] until NHK show "Family History" discovered^[2] that Robert had left Japan to move back to the US before Masao was born, then deployed to West Germany for several years as a military personnel, and later settled back in North Carolina where he died in 2013. After Masao was born, Sueko left her hometown of Yukuhashi, where there were strong prejudices against children with mixed races, then settled in Kokura (Current Kitakyushu) where she worked for multiple jobs to raise Masao. Masao also started working as early as elementary school age as a newspaper delivery boy. He started his career as a fashion model in Fukuoka when he was a high school student. Considered stunningly good looking, Masao was scouted at age 17 by a model agency in Tokyo, where his debut into the public eye began when he became a model for Shiseido Cosmetics in the early 1970's. He joined Toho in 1974 and began his career as a screen actor.^[3] He won his first major award at the Elan d'or Awards in 1975, and a year later, appeared in Kaze to Kumo to Niji to, a dream of his since early childhood to star in a taiga drama. From then to the early 1980's, Kusakari was one of the most popular actors in Japan.^[3]

He won popularity again through his role in Sanada Maru in 2016.^[4][5] In 2017, Kusakari won Best Supporting Actor of 10th Tokyo Drama Awards for his role in Sanada Maru.^[6] In 2019, Kusakari appeared in the Asadora Natsuzora and played an important role that has a great influence on leading character Natsu's life.^[7][8][9]

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1974	ESPY	Jirō Miki
	Okita Sōji	Okita Sōji	Lead role	[10]
	Himiko	Takehiko		[11]
1975	Gambare Wakadaishō	Shōzo Umeno aka Wakadaishō	Lead role	[12]
1976	Brother and Sister	Inokichi
1978	Hi no Tori	Yumihiko of Matsuro
1979	G.I. Samurai	Masakichi
	Byoinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie	Hinatsu Mokutaro
1980	Virus	Yoshizumi	Lead role
1981	Eijanaika	Itoman
1982	The Last Hero	Akio Kitano	Lead role	[13]
1984	Wangan Doro	Kensuke Sugimoto	Lead role
1987	Horinonakano Playball	Junichi Mizuta	Lead role
1989	Yuwakusha	Kazuhiko Sotomura
1995	August in the Water
1999	Hakuchi	Kogarashi
2004	Ultraman: The Next	Manjōme
2013	Casting Blossoms to the Sky
2018	My Retirement, My Life	Michitarō Sano	Lead role	[14]
2019	Hit me Anyone One More Time	Daigo Tsurumaru		[15]
2022	Dreaming of the Meridian Arc	The Governor of Chiba / Tokugawa Ienari		[16]
2024	Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General	King Zhaoxiang of Qin		[17]
2025	Emergency Interrogation Room: The Final Movie	Masanao Gōhara		[18]
2026	The Honest Realtor: The Movie	Toshiro Tosaka		[19]

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Television dramas

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1976	Kaze to Kumo to Niji to	Kashima no Haruaki	Taiga drama	[20]
1981	Pro Hunter	Shunsuke Ryuzaki	Lead role
1985	Sanada Taiheiki	Sanada Yukimura		[21]
1994	Minami-kun no Koibito	Chiyomi's father
	Hana no Ran	Hino Katsumitsu	Taiga drama	[22]
1996	Furuhata Ninzaburō	Ken'ichirō Inui	Episode 16
	Iguana Girl	Masanori Aoshima
1997	Mōri Motonari	Katsura Hirozumi	Taiga drama	[23]
2002	Shopping Hero
2004	Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy
2005	Yoshitsune	Taira no Tomoyasu	Taiga drama	[24]
2008	Atsuhime	Abe Masahiro	Taiga drama	[25]
2009	Atashinchi no Danshi
2010	Clouds Over the Hill	Katō Tomosaburō		[26]
2011	Gō	Honda Masanobu	Taiga drama	[27]
2012	Priceless	Hirose
2014	Emergency Interrogation Room	Masanao Gōhara		[18]
2016	Sanada Maru	Sanada Masayuki	Taiga drama	[21]
2017	Bakumatsu Gourmet Bushi Meshi!	The Lord
	Doctor-X Season 5	Kagenobu Uchikanda
2018	Fūunji tachi	Tanuma Okitsugu	Television film
2019	Innocence, Fight Against False Charges	Shin Kurokawa	Special appearance
	Natsuzora: Natsu's Sky	Taiju Shibata	Asadora	[28]
2020	Operation Z	Prime minister Ejima	Lead role
	Love Begins When the Money Ends	Tomihiko Saruwatari	Miniseries	[29]
2021	A Man and His Cat	Kanda Fuyuki	Lead role	[30]
2022	Chimudondon	Gorō Ōsato	Asadora	[31]
2022–24	The Honest Realtor	Toshiro Tosaka	2 seasons	[32]

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Dubbing

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	George Downes (Rupert Everett)	2000 NTV edition
2008	WALL-E	Captain B. McCrea		[33]
2017	Murder on the Orient Express	Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh)		[34]

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