Suo Masayuki

Other Name: 周防正行

Age: 68

Birthday: October 29, 1956

Nationality: Japanese

Gender: Male

Suo Masayuki is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and author. He graduated from Rikkyo University in 1981, with the major in French Literature. In 1982, along with fellow filmmakers Fukuoka Yoshiho, Isomura Itsumichi, Mizutani Toshiyuki and Akira Yoneda, Suo founded a production company called Unit 5. He worked as an assistant director for the renown director Takahashi Banmei, Wakamatsu Koji and Izutsu Kazuyuki. His debut as a director came in 1984 with the pink film "Abnormal Family - My Brother's Bride" for which he received acclaims from the critics. He became a prominent figure in Japanese entertainment industry when his 1992 work "Sumo Do, Sumo Don't" won Best Film at the Japanese Academy Awards. He and Masui Shoji, the producer for Fancy Dance (1989) founded their own production company, Altamira Pictures in 1993. Suo's 1996 work "Shall We Dance?" won fourteen awards at the Japanese Academy Awards including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Film. The movie performed strongly in U.S. theaters, and eventually influencing to produce an American remake version starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. His 2007 work "I Just Didn't Do it" won multiple accolades and helped to catalyze a shift in attitudes within Japan's legal system. He is married to the actress Kusakari Tamiyo since 1996. He directed "Dancing Chaplin" in 2011, a documentary film about the ballet career of his wife Kusakari Tamiyo. (Source: Altamira Pictures).