Megumi Matsushita

Megumi Matsushita
松下 恵
Matsushita 2019 at the Premier of "Wake up in America"
Born (1981-01-16) 16 January 1981 (age 43)
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
OccupationActress
Years active1993–present
AgentToei Company
Height1.51 m (4 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Japanese name
Kanji松下 恵
Hiraganaまつした めぐみ
Katakanaマツシタ メグミ
Transcriptions
RomanizationMegumi Matsushita
Websitehttps://megumimatsushita.com

Megumi Matsushita (松下 恵, Megumi Matsushita, born 16 January 1981) is a Japanese actress.[1]

Biography

Megumi Matsushita was born in Tokyo, Japan, on January 16, 1981. Her mother is Rumi Sakakibara, a renowned actress in Japan,[2][3] and her businessman father, Motoh Matsushita. She has no siblings.[4] Her booking agent is Toei Company, a Japanese film production company which is known for anime, live-action dramas and special-effects (tokusatsu) films, such as the "Power Rangers".

Megumi made her acting debut at 11 years old, when she appeared on a TV show with her mother. Because of this performance, she was scouted by the Horipro, Agency. The next year, she made her television debut in the drama, "Kachosan no Yakudoshi" (1993) as Akemi, the daughter of the main character, played by Kenichi Hagiwara.

In 1995, she played class leader Rumi Imaruoka in the TV drama, "Sannen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei" from October 1995 to March 1996.[5][6]

When she was 16, she played the main character, Natsumi, in the feature film, "Remembering the Cosmos Flower" (1997), which was awarded Best Feature Film by the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema in 1997.[7]

Also in 1997, Megumi began working in the theater. She made her first appearance on stage as Wendy in the musical "Peter Pan".[8] That same year, she would also play Rebecca Gibbs in Thorton Wilder's "Our Town". In the following years, she played the eldest daughter Liesl in the musical, "The Sound of Music" (1998), and as the main character, Midori in Ichiyō Higuchi's "Takekurabe" (1998). The next year, she played Fredrika Armfelt in Stephen Sondheim's, "A Little Night Music".

In other endeavors, she was the voice of Fiorina in the animated film "Haha o Tazunete Sanzenri or 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother" (1998),[9] and played the main character, Hitomi Hayama, of "Another Mind" (1998), an adventure game created by Square for the Playstation.[10] She was the hostess of the German study TV program of NHK's "Doitsugo Kaiwa" in 1999.

In 2000, she played Princess Chinatsu in the long-running historical drama, "The Unfettered Shogun".[11]

In 2001, she graduated from Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College.[12] She was awarded an Associate of Arts degree in English literature.

Currently, Megumi has appeared in over 70 television shows, twelve movies, and 18 plays. Some notable performances are:

Guest TV appearances in "Mito Kōmon" (2002 and 2009),[13] "AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo" (2008 and 2009),[14] "Ouroboros" (2015),[15] and "Kasoken no onna" (2018).[16]

In film, she played Utsusemi in "Sakuran" (2006),[17] the hairdresser in "Exte" (2007),[18] Megu, the daughter of Gō Hideki/Ultraman Jack, in "Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers" (2008),[19] and Iketani-kun's mom in "A Boy and His Samurai" (2010).[20]

In 2011, she played the villain, ALIEN SALOME Ligier, in "Ultraman Premiere 2011"[21] on the stage.

She was the subject of the documentary film "Wake up in America" (2019).[22][23] The film was awarded "Special Thanks Award" by the Japan Film Festival of Los Angeles.[24]

References

  1. ^ "Toei Management Official Profile". TOEI MANAGEMENT (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  2. ^ 榊原るみ＆松下恵「旦那さんにふさわしいのは田中邦衛さん」ズバリ本音で美女トーク [Rumi Sakakibara & Megumi Matsushita A beautiful mother and daughter]. Nikkan Taishu (in Japanese). Japan: Futabasha Publishers Ltd. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  3. ^ 異国の地で人生見つめ直す「アラフォーの挑戦」松下恵 [Wake up in America Megumi Matsushita]. Nishinippon Shinbun (in Japanese). Japan: The Nishinippon Shinbun. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  4. ^ アラフォー女優の告白「私が結婚できない理由を真剣に考えた」 [Why I can't get married?]. Gendai Business (in Japanese). Japan: KODANSHA Ltd. 3 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  5. ^ 金八シリーズのヒロインに会いたい！」 [We want to see the heroine of the Kinpachi Series!]. Middle Edge (in Japanese). Japan: Middle Edge. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  6. ^ 3年B組金八先生（第4シリーズ）. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  7. ^ 秋桜 コスモス. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  8. ^ "profile". Arafo Film Partners (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  9. ^ マルコ/母をたずねて三千里. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  10. ^ アラフォーの挑戦アメリカへインタビュー [Interview for Wake up in America]. EnterJam (in Japanese). Japan: EnterJam Publishers Ltd. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  11. ^ "Talent Dictionary". talent-dictionary.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  12. ^ アラフォー女優が告白「15年続いた私の摂食障害」 [My childhood]. Gendai Business (in Japanese). Japan: KODANSHA Ltd. 10 March 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  13. ^ TBS 水戸黄門 第40部 [Mitokomon Season40]. Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc (in Japanese). Japan. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  14. ^ 相棒（Season7）. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  15. ^ ウロボロス〜この愛こそ、正義. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  16. ^ 科捜研の女season18. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  17. ^ さくらん. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  18. ^ エクステ. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  19. ^ 大決戦！超ウルトラ８兄弟. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  20. ^ ちょんまげぷりん. allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  21. ^ ウルトラマンプレミア2011. Tsuburayaproduction (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  22. ^ 松下恵、こんなに悪い男の子たち [Interview about the Wake up in America]. Nikkan Sports News (in Japanese). Japan. 7 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  23. ^ 松下恵、毎日結婚迫る母榊原るみとガチ親子げんか [Wake up in America Stage Greeting]. Nikkan Sports News (in Japanese). Japan. 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  24. ^ 日本映画でアメリカの人々に文化を伝える映画祭が方向転換！ [Japanese movie inspires America]. Cinema Today (in Japanese). Japan: CINEMATODAY, Inc. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.