Yoshiyuki Baba (馬場 義之, Baba Yoshiyuki), known professionally as Togo Igawa (伊川 東吾, Igawa Tōgo), is a Japanese character actor who works primarily in British theatre, films and television. He was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2012 for his role in Total War: Shogun 2.[1]
Togo Igawa | |
|---|---|
| 伊川東吾 | |
| Born | Yoshiyuki Baba |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Spouse | Adrienne Baba |
Career
editIgawa founded Black Tent Theatre, a theatrical group in Japan[2] before moving to the UK and becoming the first Japanese member of The Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986.[3][4]
He went on to have roles in major films such as Revolver, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Last Samurai, and A Matter of Size.[5]
Additionally, Igawa provides the voices of Professor Moshimo in Robotboy, and Hiro in the Thomas & Friends franchise starting with 2009's Hero of the Rails. He also appears in 2011's Johnny English Reborn, the sequel to Johnny English, as English's Tibetan guru and is in the 2012 film Gambit playing businessman Takagawa.[6]
His television roles have included appearances in Lovejoy, Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, The IT Crowd, Torchwood, Casualty, Archer, Doctor Who and The Crown. In 2019 he joined the cast of BBC series Giri/Haji.[7]
Igawa voiced the main villain Colonel Lee in the video game Crysis Warhead and the Yakuza character Jiro in the 2013 video game Payday 2. He was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance in Total War: Shogun 2.[8]
In 2023 Igawa played real life businessman Hiroshi Yamauchi in Tetris.[9]
In 2024, he will next be seen starring in Kyoto, a new play on the West End theatre, reuniting with the Royal Shakespeare Company.[10]
Personal life
editIgawa lives in England with his wife Adrienne Baba.
He studied at The Haiyuza Theatre Company Acting School and Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music.[11]
Filmography
editFilm
edit- Kagirinaku toumei ni chikai blue (1979) as Okinawa
- The Man Who Shot Christmas (1984) as Koji
- Half Moon Street (1986) as Japanese Waiter
- Just like a Woman (1992) as Akira Watanabe
- Incognito (1998) as Agachi
- Eyes Wide Shut (1999) as Japanese Man #1
- The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz (1999) as Japanese Scuba Diver
- The Last Samurai (2003) as General Hasegawa
- Code 46 (2004) as a Driver
- Revolver (2005) as Fred
- Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) as Tanaka
- Irish Jam (2006) as Mr. Suzuki
- Speed Racer (2008) as Tetsuo Togokahn
- The Hedgehog (2009) as Kakuro Ozu
- Hero of the Rails (2009) as Hiro (voice)
- A Matter of Size (2009) as Kitano
- Ninja (2009) as Sensei Takeda
- Misty Island Rescue (2010) as Hiro (voice)
- Johnny English Reborn (2011) as Ting Wang
- Gambit (2012) as Takagawa
- King of the Railway (2013) as Hiro (voice)
- 47 Ronin (2013) as Tengu Lord (voice)
- Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014) as Old Monk
- Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist (2014) as Gotetsu
- Everly (2014) as Sadist[12]
- The Confessions (2016) as Japanese minister
- Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) as Resistance Bridge Officer
- The Gentlemen (2019) as Wang Yong (Dry Eye's uncle)
- The Host (2020) as Lau Hoi Ho
- Tetris (2023) as Hiroshi Yamauchi
Television
edit- Gems (1985–1986) as Mr. Horikoshi/Mr. Jima
- Never the Twain (1988) as Japanese tourist
- Small World (1988) as Prof. Motakazu Umeda
- Forever Green (1989) as Mr. Okisawa
- Screen Two (1989) as Hiroto
- Murder Most Horrid (1991) as Japanese tourist
- Lovejoy (1992) as Mr. Kashimoto
- Drop the Dead Donkey (1996) as Mishima
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (2005) as Jafar Shin (voice)
- Robotboy (2005–2008) as Professor Moshimo
- The IT Crowd (2006, 2008) as Yamamoto
- Torchwood (2006) as Dr. Tanizaki
- Thomas & Friends (2010–2020) as Hiro (voice)
- Casualty (2014) as Than Sein
- Marco Polo (2014) as Chuluun
- Archer (2015) as Kentaro Sato (voice)
- Doctor Who (2017) as Secretary General
- The Amazing World of Gumball (2017) as Mr Yoshida, Mystical Narrator (voice)
- Doctors (2017) as Akio Tanaka
- Origin (2018) as Eiichi Yagami
- The Crown (2019) as Emperor Hirohito
Video games
edit- Shogun: Total War (2001) as Narrator
- Perfect Dark Zero (2005) as Zhang Li[13]
- Genji: Days of the Blade (2006) as Musashibo Benkei
- Crysis Warhead (2008) as Colonel Lee
- Payday 2 (2015) as Jiro
- Total War: Shogun 2 (2010, cooperating with Sega and Creative Assembly) as game's narrator
- Evil Genius 2: World Domination (2021) as Jubei
- Wolfstride (2020) as Oyabun
- Rise of the Rōnin (2024) as Bladesmith's Counterpart[14]
References
edit- ^ "2012 Games Performer | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "Togo Igawa: how I became the RSC's first Japanese actor". The Guardian. 30 October 2014. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "Togo Igawa's biography". Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ "Actor Togo Igawa: 'Sean Bean said to me: Togo, the Queen laughed at your anger!'".
- ^ "Togo Igawa".
- ^ "Togo Igawa | United Agents". www.unitedagents.co.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "Casting announced as filming begins on new drama thriller Giri/Haji".
- ^ "Games in 2012 | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ Barder, Ollie. "The Story Of 'Tetris' Is Finally Getting The Movie Treatment, With Togo Igawa As A Spot On Hiroshi Yamauchi". Forbes. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "Full casting announced for KYOTO, a major new co-production from The RSC and Good Chance". West End Best Friend. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "Soho Voices - Togo Igawa - Voice over artist".
- ^ Togo Igawa Everly
- ^ "Togo Igawa". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 3 February 2021. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of the title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Aruya, Shida (30 March 2024). "Rise of the Ronin Voice Actors: Full Cast & Character List". www.gameleap.com. Game Leap. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
External links
edit- Togo Igawa at IMDb