Hitomi Kuroki


Hitomi Kuroki is a Japanese actress and film director.
She was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in what was formerly called Kurogi in Yame District. Her stage name derives from her hometown of Kuroki, and writer Hiroyuki Itsuki who was an alumnus of her Middle School came up with this full stage name.。
Kuroki was a member of the Takarazuka Revue, belonging to the . Kuroki was the voice of Helen Parr/Elastigirl/Mrs. Incredible in the Japanese dub of The Incredibles. She won the award for best actress at the 22nd Hochi Film Award for Lost Paradise.
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Curriculum vitae

Childhood

She was born 1960 the youngest of 4 siblings. Her father engaged in livestock husbandry, while her mother ran a diner. They were both strict disciplinarians, but Hitomi grew up carefreely without troubling her parent.
Her father was ranked 7-dan in kendō, and partly due to that influence, she took up practicing kendō at a dōjō from the 4th grade. She loved music from childhood and took piano lessons. And an avid reader as well.
As a 2nd year student in middle school, she was inspired to become an actress after watching a schoolmate in the daughter's role in Kan Kikuchi's play Chichi kaeru put on by the students at the school culture festival. Having watched many films, she dreamed of being in the movies as well. She drew out a life-plan after middle school, that she would join the theater club in high school, study acting in university, join bungakuza, and become an actress.。

Takarazuka Music School

She enrolled at and joined the theater club; as club president she led her team in the all-Kyūshū competition. As a 1 year high schooler, she had seen the Takarazuka musical adaptation of The Rose of Versailles at the Fukuoka civic hall. and seeing Takarazuko on stage for the first time was tremendous impact. She went to see the show the year after and the next during the show's once a year tour to Fukuoka.
Although she was captivated by the theater, and dreamed of turning actress in Tokyo, she watched the Takarazuka performance strictly as a hobbyist's appreciation. Therefore she did not even try out to become a student at the Takarazuka Music School during the first two years of high school,、高校3年生の頃には音楽教師になろうと考えていた and was intending to enroll in a music university in Kumamoto Prefecture where she did get accepted. but because of her aforementioned fandom of Versailles, she sent for application forms and pamphlets for Takarazuka. Noticing that the school only accepted applications before graduating high school, so she decided to fill out a form thinking of it as a commemorative thing to do.
She secretly took 1 week of ballet lessons without telling her parents, then went to the entrance examination. The exam date came a week after she got accepted by the music college. In the interview, she wound out speaking completely in her native, and in reply to her reasons for applying, she blurted the gaffe that "SKD would have suited her just as well, naming the rival all-girls musical troupe. Nevertheless she got accepted, overcoming the odds of 22.4 to 1. Although she was initially intending to go through the try-out process purely as a commemorative experience, as she passed the primary and secondary examinations, the desire grew within her to actually become part of Takarazuka, and decided to change the course of her future plans. The parents were flat against it, but after her grandmother gave a nudge, they relented and gave their consent.
After enrolling in April 1979, the strictness of school codes and hierarchical relationship were "fine, as long as one got used to it", in her words, but she could not keep up with the lessons, which she worried over. To overcome this, she would leave the dormitory at 6:40 am to do training exercises on her own, and after school, she would go to private lessons, returning to the dorm just in time for the 22:30 curfew.

Takarazuka Revue

In 1981, Kuroki graduated 3rd place and joined the Takarazuka Revue as the.
Among notables in the same class are actresses, Mayo Suzukaze, Miki Maya, of mixed Mexican descent who became Japanese dance instructor, and who has stayed on with the troupe as leader. Kuroki was assigned to the Moon troupe as a girl-part actrees on May 18.
The 67th class had their first show on stage in the that ran from March to May 1981. In May Kuroki was assigned to the Moon troupe as a girl-role actress.
She appeared starting January 1982 on the TV show as a regular and its first assistant. While still in the troupe, she appeared in the affiliated Tōhō production film Minami Jūjisei co-produced with the Australian film team. This was her first movie appearance.
She was cast in the heroine role in the July 1983 staging of the, then in August, was cast in the top female role opposite Mao Daichi still as a 2nd-year intern. This was the fastest promotion to the top spot for either male or females in the history of the Revue. Daichi was somewhat thin and small-faced for a male-role actress, and caught notice of Kuroki who was of similar build and was able to carry out her performance with gusto, and so made the offer, according to Kuroki.
She was cast in such Takarazuka titles as Ciboulette, Moonlight Romance,, and Guys and Dolls.
When Daichi announced she was leaving the organization in August 1985, Kuroki decided it was time for her to leave as well. She had her final performance in the September 1, last show of A Tale of Two Cities/ double show in Tokyo, and resigned from Takarazuka.。

Entertainment business

In her first leading role on film, she was cast in Keshin based on the original story by novelist Junichi Watanabe, directed by Yōichi Higashi. It grabbed grabbed public attention for her nude scenes, partly due to the fact she was a former Takarasienne. She won a best new actress prize for her role in the film at the annual Japan Academy Film Prizes. Appearance in NHK Asadora series builds her popularity.
She continued to play suspense drama an other roles. In 1997, she starred in Shitsurakuen or Lost Paradise also an adaptation of the Watanabe Junichi novel A Lost Paradise, and directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. The title became a buzzword and a social phenomenon, with Kuroki winning the Japanese Academy's best actress prize.
In 1990, she was married, with a daughter born in 1998.
She was the 1999 and 2000 emcee for the Japan Record Awards ceremony, aired on TBS.
She played the lead distressed mother in the 2002 film adaptation of the horror story Dark Water directed by Hideo Nakata of Ring fame.
She made her directorial debut with the 2016 feature film adaptation of 's. Although Kuroki did not appear in this movie, she played the lead role in the TV drama version which aired the same year.

Selected filmography

As director

Iya na Onna
  • ''The Devil Wears Jūnihitoe''

As actress

Film

Television series

Variety and cultural shows

Stage (Takarazuka Revue)

Stage

  • Hamlet
  • Christmas Box
  • mama loves MAMBO
  • mama lobes MAMBOII
  • Hitomi Kuroki 25th anniversary Show "Musemore～talking&dancing"
  • mama loves MAMBOIII
  • MAMA LOVES mamboIV
  • Hitomi Kuroki 30th Dreaming Dinner show
  • Hitomi Kuroki is the reader the stage "Toritateya Oharu"

Dubbing