Rie Miyazawa

Acting

Rie Miyazawa

Born 1973-04-06 · Tokyo, Japan

Rie Miyazawa is a Japanese actress and former teen idol. She is regarded as one of Japan's top actresses, and her accolades include six Japan Academy Film Prizes and three Kinema Junpo Awards Miyazawa began her career as a child model, seeing wide exposure as the original face of Mitsui Rehouse, and made her acting debut in the 1988 film Seven Day's War, for which she won the Japan Academy Award for Newcomer of the Year at age sixteen. Her short-lived music career began with the single "Dream Rush" in 1989, and the next year she performed at the prestigious Kōhaku Uta Gassen television special. Miyazawa quickly rose to prominence as one of the top idols of the early Heisei period, attracting controversy for her 1991 nude photography book Santa Fe, which moved 1.5 million copies. Her personal struggles were further scrutinized, including a high-profile engagement to sumo wrestler Takanohana, a suicide attempt and battle with anorexia nervosa. By 1996, she went into hiatus and briefly resettled in San Diego. She took on a few television drama roles in the late 1990s, and returned to the big screen in the Taiwanese films The Cabbie (2000) and Peony Pavilion (2001). She co-starred in the highly-acclaimed 2002 film The Twilight Samurai, which marked a full-fledged comeback for Miyazawa and remains as her most recognizable role both domestically and internationally. She saw further success in The Face of Jizo and Tony Takitani (2004), and received several accolades for Pale Moon (2014) and Her Love Boils Bathwater (2016).

Acting credits

The Twilight Samurai poster
7.8

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

The Twilight Samurai

2002

Tony Takitani poster
6.8

A reclusive illustrator falls in love with a young woman who addictively shops for clothing.

Tony Takitani

2004

Pale Moon poster
6.4

Wakaba Bank contract employee Rika meets university student Kota at a client's home. Unknown to her husband Masafumi, she engages in secret rendezvous with Kota, and begins to embezzle money from her clients' accounts to buy expensive cosmetics and pay off Kota's debt.

Pale Moon

2014

Hana poster
6.6

In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.

Hana

2006

Last Man -FIRST LOVE- poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

Last Man -FIRST LOVE-

2025

Seven Days War poster
6.5

In the town of Saima, when summer is about to begin, a group of six high school students intend to live a secret adventure by spending seven carefree days in a ruined mining facility.

Seven Days War

2019

Her Love Boils Bathwater poster
7.4

After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Futaba resolves to spend her remaining time reuniting her broken family, reopening the long-closed bathhouse, and helping her shy daughter Azumi learn to stand on her own.

Her Love Boils Bathwater

2016

47 Ronin poster
7.4

Kon Ichikawa's retelling of the classic true story of Samurai honor. When a young clan lord is forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide), his loyal followers (now Ronin, masterless Samurai) dedicate their lives to avenging his death.

47 Ronin

1994

Kiki's Delivery Service poster
6.0

A young girl named Kiki must leave her home for a year to begin training in witchcraft. She leaves on her broom, but first says goodbye to her friends and family. Kiki then begins her new life with her trusted cat Jiji.

Kiki's Delivery Service

2014

Kita no kuni kara '92 Sudachi Part 1 poster
8.0

There is a man who divorced his wife. He moved to rural Hokkaido from Tokyo where he lived with his family without running water or electricity. He has his son and daughter in tow and works hard for them. The folk in the area try to help. A couple of years pass and the older son moves back to Tokyo, attends school and works part-time. The daughter commutes to the city to attend school. She wants to become a nurse. To become a registered nurse she needs to study a further three years. This takes money.

Kita no kuni kara '92 Sudachi Part 1

1992

No Longer Human poster
6.0

The story of Osamu Dazai, one of Japan's most celebrated novelists, absorbed in alcohol and love; married and in a relationship with two other lovers.

No Longer Human

2019

Too Young To Die! poster
6.5

After dying in a bus crash and falling to hell, high schooler Daisuke joins a demonic rock band so he can be reincarnated back into the mortal world.

Too Young To Die!

2016

Free and Easy 12: Big Holiday Bonus Project poster
7.3

Mr. Takano, a company employee, announces plans to take an early retirement so he can return to his home town and spend his days fishing. Su-san and Hama-chan envy his decision, and Hama-chan conspires to visit Takano, even though he has no vacation time left.

Free and Easy 12: Big Holiday Bonus Project

2001

Pieta in the Toilet poster
6.7

Hiroshi has given up on his dreams of becoming a painter and works part-time cleaning office windows. He learns that he has only 3 months left to live. During his last summer, high school student Mai appears. Hiroshi becomes attracted to her.

Pieta in the Toilet

2015

The Cabbie poster
7.2

After falling in love with a traffic cop, a cab driver commits as many traffic violations as he can in order to see her again.

The Cabbie

2000

Numb poster
NR

A boy who no longer speaks, shaped by a tyrannical father and a mother he both resents and loves, grows up on Japan's northern coast. With nowhere to belong, he returns to seek his father and sets his fate in motion.

Numb

2026

Peony Pavilion poster
6.8

In 1930s Suzhou, the fifth wife of an opium-addicted aristocrat, her husband's female cousin, and a handsome instructor develop an intense relationship.

Peony Pavilion

2001

Ashura poster
5.3

Adapted from the successful play, the film takes place in 19th-century Japan, where a war between demons and their slayers is fought. Izumo, a kabuki actor with a demon-slaying past, meets and falls in love with Tsubaki. However, something is not right, as mysterious marks appear on her body as time progresses. At the same time, it is announced that Ashura, the queen of all demons, will be resurrected and bring destruction to the universe.

Ashura

2005

Seven Days War poster
6.3

A community is in turmoil when junior high schoolers barricade themselves in an empty factory to protest the draconian rules of parents and teachers. They're sick of heavy-handed teachers and iron-fisted parents. And now they're going to do something about it.

Seven Days War

1988

The Moon poster
5.4

Yoko, who gets a job at a nursing home, witnesses the elderly and disabled people there having their human dignity threatened.

The Moon

2023

Defeat the Devil! poster
NR

A one part drama/made for TV movie starring Rie Miyazawa

Defeat the Devil!

1990

Saiyūki poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Saiyūki

1993

Intermission poster
NR

Spanning nearly sixty years, Yonfan features his career in music, dance, photography, and writing through fifteen films in Intermission. This captivating cinematic journey stands as a witness to the essence of a changing world.

Intermission

2026

Erotic Liaisons poster
4.6

A low-key private detective agency in Paris is run by Rie and her partner Kishin, two ex-pats who tick along between cases by giving guided tours of the city to busloads of Japanese tourists.

Erotic Liaisons

1992