Japanese actress (1953–2022)
Yoko Shimada (Japanese: 島田 陽子, Hepburn: Shimada Yōko, 17 May 1953 – 25 July 2022) was a Japanese actress, best known to Western audiences for her portrayal of Mariko in the 1980 miniseries Shōgun.[1]
Shogun miniseries
Shimada was the only female member of Shōgun's massive cast of Japanese actors shown speaking English, for which she relied on a dialogue coach, as she was not fluent in the language at the time. Her English improved greatly during the production, however, allowing her to work in a few English language films during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1981, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama,[2][1] and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her work on Shōgun.[3] While the nine-hour long Shōgun was a critical success in the U.S., it flopped in Japan when it was released as a severely truncated theatrical version.[1]
Personal life
In 1988, Shimada had an affair with singer Yuya Uchida, who was married at the time. She reportedly had resorted to alcoholism and appeared in a nude photo book in 1992[4] in an attempt to clear her personal debts. Though the book was a bestseller, it damaged her reputation as an actress. In 2011, at the age of 58, she starred in an adult video.[1]
Shimada died at a hospital in Tokyo on 25 July 2022, due to complications from colorectal cancer.[5][6]
