Masami Nagasawa

Masami Nagasawa is a Japanese actress born on June 3, 1987, in Iwata, Shizuoka. She is widely recognized for her extensive film and television career, which began during her youth. Her father, Kazuaki Nagasawa, was a former manager for the Júbilo Iwata soccer club, and she grew up with an older brother. Nagasawa currently resides in the Meguro area of Tokyo.

Nagasawa entered the entertainment industry in 2000 after winning the Grand Prix at the 5th Toho Cinderella Audition, prevailing over more than 35,000 contestants. Following her contest win, she made her film debut at age twelve as a young orphan with psychic abilities in the science fiction movie Pyrokinesis. Over the next few years, she appeared in supporting roles in feature films such as Nagori Yuki and Yomigaeri, as well as the television series Sakura. She took on her first lead movie role in Robot Contest in 2003 and portrayed one of the Shobijin in two monster films, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. and Godzilla: Final Wars.

Her breakthrough came in 2004 with the drama Crying Out Love in the Center of the World, which earned her a Blue Ribbon Award and a Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Supporting Actress. Nagasawa continued to secure high-profile roles, earning a Japan Academy Film Prize nomination for Best Leading Actress for Tears for You. Her film credits expanded through projects such as Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess, the romantic comedy Love Strikes!, and 50 First Kisses. Several of her projects achieved international screening recognition, including Beyond the Memories, Our Little Sister, and Before We Vanish.

In addition to live-action performances, Nagasawa has established herself as a voice actress, voicing Umi Matsuzaki in Studio Ghibli's From Up on Poppy Hill and Miki Okudera in Your Name. She has featured in major cinematic releases and series, playing Dako in The Confidence Man JP trilogy, Yang Duan He in Kingdom and Kingdom: Flame of Destiny, Anna Kobayashi in Detective Chinatown 3, Hiroko Asami in Shin Ultraman, and Scorpion-Aug in Shin Kamen Rider.

Alongside her film career, Nagasawa has maintained a consistent presence on Japanese television. Her television roles include Dragon Zakura, Proposal Daisakusen, Toshi densetsu no onna, Tenchijin, Wagaya no Rekishi, and Sanada Maru. To portray the lead character in the Taiwanese series adaptation Chocolat, she learned Chinese. On stage, she performed alongside Jun Matsumoto and Eita Nagayama in Hideki Noda's production Love in Action, which held runs in Tokyo, Kitakyushu, Osaka, and London's Sadler's Wells Theatre.

Over her career, Nagasawa has earned extensive recognition, accumulating accolades that include five Japan Academy Film Prizes, four Blue Ribbon Awards, and a Mainichi Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Before We Vanish. On January 1, 2026, her talent agency announced her marriage to film director Takeshi Fukunaga.