Ryuichi Sakamoto
Biography
Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Japanese musician, composer, record producer, singer, and actor. Born in Nakano in 1952, he studied music composition at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and worked as a session musician before co-founding the electronic band Yellow Magic Orchestra with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1978. He also released solo albums, including Thousand Knives and B-2 Unit. His first film work was Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), where he both acted and composed the score, winning a BAFTA. He then scored Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987), earning the Academy Award for Best Original Score and becoming the first Japanese composer to win that honor. He wrote music for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics opening ceremony. He was the subject of the documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017), and his final solo piano performance was released as Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus (2023). He died in 2023.
71years old at death
- Born Nakano
- Died Tokyo
- Star sign: CapricornThe sign runs December 22 to January 19
- Also credited as Ryūichi Sakamoto, Sakamoto Ryūichi, Sakamoto Ryuichi and Ryouichi Sakamoto
Movie Career
- Films
- 6
- Career span
- 40 years1983 to 2023
Genres
- Documentary50%, 3 films
- Drama50%, 3 films
- Biography33%, 2 films
- Music33%, 2 films
- History17%, 1 film
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A first
Sakamoto wrote the original score for The Last Emperor, released in 1987. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, becoming the first Japanese composer to take home an Academy Award.
A first
Sakamoto's composition "Energy Flow" came out in 1999 and was the first instrumental single to reach number one in the history of Japan's Oricon charts.
First role
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, released in 1983, was Sakamoto's first work as an actor and as a film score composer. The main theme from that film became the single "Forbidden Colours", an international hit.
Ryuichi Sakamoto movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Worked with
Ryuichi Sakamoto shares three films with David Bowie, and one with each of the others. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
David Bowie's page
Willem Dafoe's page
Christopher Walken's page
John Malkovich's page
Leonardo DiCaprio's page
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's page
All films by Bernardo Bertolucci
All films by Abel Ferrara
Awards
Five awards and honors from 1983 to 2010, two of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | |||
| 1988 | Best Original Score | The Last Emperor | Won |
| BAFTA | |||
| 1983 | Best Original Music | Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence | Won |
| Other honors | |||
| 2010 | Art Encouragement Prizes | Won | |
| 2009 | Officer of Arts and Letters | Won | |
| 2002 | Order of Rio Branco | Won | |
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.