Yoko Shimada
Acting • Born 1953-05-17 – Died 2022-07-25
Biography
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.
Filmography
44 credits
The Sino-Dutch War 1661
Movie • 2001
Matsu Tagawa
The Hunted
Movie • 1995
Mieko
The Castle of Sand
Movie • 1974
Reiko Takagi
Gotoshi Co. Ltd. Special Police Department Crime Prevention Division No. 5104 Case
Movie • 1995
Go Go Kamen Rider
Movie • 1971
Hiromi Nohara
I Am a Cat
Movie • 1975
Yukie
The Deep Red
Movie • 2005
Dr. Tanaka
Brothers Serving Time
Movie • 1969
Dohten
Movie • 1991
Lupin the Thief: Enigma of the 813
Movie • 1979
Mrs. Kesselbach
Dog of Fortune
Movie • 1979
Reiko Kitamori
Slow Down
Movie • 1991
River Without a Bridge
Movie • 1969
Dead Angle
Movie • 1979
Labyrinth Romanesque
Movie • 1988
Tae Akimoto
Kanon
Movie • 2016
Sumiko
Crying Freeman
Movie • 1995
Lady Hanada
Visitor After Dark
Movie • 1975
Etsuko / Noriko
The Inugami Family
Movie • 1976
Tamayo Nonomiya
Truckster Goes to Hokkaido
Movie • 1976
Minamoto Yoshitsune
Movie • 1990
Kaneuri Kichiji
The Making of Shōgun
Movie • 2003
My Champion
Movie • 1981
Miki
The Man Who Assassinated Ryoma
Movie • 1987
The Faithless Love
Movie • 2011
Self
Mikkai
Movie • 2011
Self
Undiscovered Tomb
Movie • 2003
Ivy
God in Jail
Movie • 2016
Ring! Ring! Ring! The Champion Belt of Tears
Movie • 1993
Dear Heart
Movie • 2009
Nagare no Fu Part I: Disturbance, Part II: Dawn
Movie • 1974
Kyukei no Koya
Movie • 1975
I Want to Meet Yoko Shimada
Movie • 2010
津軽・青森ロマンチック殺人街道
Movie • 1989
Kyoko
First Love
Movie • 1972
Kazu no Fūkei
Movie • 1991
Sea of Whitetail
Movie • 1990
Black Corridor
Movie • 2004
Sister Yakuza, Bodhisattva Ryuko
Movie • 2000
Ōgon no Hibi
TV • 1978
Hosokawa Gracia
Shōgun
TV • 1980
Lady Toda Buntaro - Mariko
Tuesday Suspense Theater
TV • 1981
Sunflower on the Hill
TV • 1993
Yabe Fumi
Fushoku no kōzō
TV • 1977
Majima Kumiko