Frank Tokunaga


Frank B. Tokunaga was a Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter who worked in Japan and Hollywood.

Biography

Career

Tokunaga began his career in show business in 1912 while managing a troupe of Japanese acrobats for Barnum & Bailey, and later worked as an actor in Broadway productions.
Tokunaga then began working at Thomas H. Ince's motion picture studio in Santa Monica, before taking on roles for Louis B. Mayer and then joining Universal's stock company. He did all sorts of work during the silent era, often serving as an interpreter and a location man.
For a time, Tokunaga returned to Japan, where he was a pioneering writer and director at Nikkatsu Studios. Later on in his career, he would return to the United States sporadically to work as a character actor in Hollywood films.

Personal life

Tokunaga was married to Komako Sunada, an actress who was known as the Japanese answer to Mary Pickford in the press. The pair collaborated on a pair of screenplays: 1925's Tôyô no Karumen and 1926's Zoku Tôyô no Karumen.

Selected filmography

As director:
  • Keiba to nyobo
  • Oira no sekai
  • Asu no taiyô
  • Hanamuko hyakumanryô
  • Shonen senshu
  • Kane wa tenka no mawari mochi
  • Hikari wa higashiyori
  • Koi no sutoppu mamanranu
  • Shisei no kagayaki
  • Taiyo no kokoro
  • Chichi
  • Shuressha
  • Akai hi aoi hi
  • Kokoro naki miyako
  • Chiriyuku joka
  • Danshi Tokkan
  • Ganto no nazo
  • Rôchû no uguisu
  • Seigi banzai
  • Zoku Tôyô no Karumen
  • Ai ni kagayaku josei
  • Wakodo no chi wa odoru
  • Shôhin eiga-shû: Jinsei to katsudô
  • Tôyô no Karumen
  • Ai no himitsu
As actor: