Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2014

While many Japanese actors dream of going international, few succeed. Tanroh Ishida has taken a different route, starting his career abroad and working his way up to international co-productions. The son of a Noh actor, he began stage training at the tender age of three. He later studied in London, equipping himself with both Eastern and Western classical training. After graduating, he decided to stay on in the UK to found a theater company blending Japanese and English styles. Acclaimed performances led to small parts in British films, including a Japanese businessman opposite Colin Firth in Gambit. His latest work is a key role in Railway Man, based on the memoir by British POW Eric Lomax. Ishida plays Takashi Nagase, an interpreter for the Japanese Imperial Army forcing British soldiers to construct the Burmese railway. When Lomax (Firth) is plagued by psychological problems decades later, his wife (Nicole Kidman) encourages him to make amends with the man he associates with his torture played by Hiroyuki Sanada in later scenes. “It was a double challenge for me,” Ishida said at the Japan premiere of the film. “I not only had to play Nagase, I had to play a young version of Sanada, one of Japan’s greatest actors.”

Railway Man opens in Japan April 19. www.railway-tabi.jp