Nanako Matsushima

Nanako Matsushima (松嶋 菜々子) is a Japanese actress and model.

She starred in the horror film Ring, and was also the female lead character in the drama A Story of Love, along with Ring co-star Hiroyuki Sanada.

Despite its controversial nature, the drama was awarded the best drama at the 21st Japan Television Drama Academy Awards.

For her role in the film, Matsushima was nominated for the Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role award at the 24th Japan Academy Film Prize.

In September 2021, she co-starred in a commercial for Uber Eats alongside Matt Kuwata.

In November 2023, Nanako Matsushima co-starred along with her husband Takashi Sorimachi in a commercial for skincare and makeup Shiseido.

In 1997, Matsushima was selected to play the female lead, a poor but happy designer who happens to run a shop in a building owned by a wealthy, arrogant but dying rich man played by Hiroyuki Sanada in the drama A Story of Love, also known as Konna Koi No Hanashi for its Japanese title.

The drama chronicles the trial and tribulations that the leads undergo as their feelings developed into something more than mere friendship.

In 1998, Matsushima starred together with her now husband, Takashi Sorimachi in the drama Great Teacher Onizuka, about a former delinquent turned teacher.

The drama which was based on a popular manga, received a 35.7 rating for its final episode, making it one of the highest rated Japanese dramas ever.

The new Shiseido commercial marked the couple first sharing screen in 25 years following the couple co-starred together in 1998 TV Drama Great Teacher Onizuka and the first time the couple co-starred together following their marriage in 2001.

In 1999, Matsushima subsequently appeared as the female lead in the controversial drama Terms for a Witch, also known as Majo no Jōken for its Japanese title.

which centres on the romance between a teacher and her student, with Hideaki Takizawa as the male lead.

Matsushima has also appeared in several other popular films, amongst them the 2000 film Whiteout, which grossed over 4.2 billion yen in Japan.

On February 21, 2001, she married Japanese actor Takashi Sorimachi, her co-star in the hit drama GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka).

They have two daughters together, born on May 31, 2004, and November 30, 2007.

She has been called one of Japan's most beautiful women.

Matsushima has appeared in a number of popular or critically acclaimed dramas, and she has won the Best Actress Award at the Japan Television Drama Academy Awards six times.

Matsushima played Tsubaki Domyouji, the sister of the main male lead Domyouji Tsukasa (Jun Matsumoto), in 2005 popular drama Boys Over Flowers and Boys Over Flowers 2.

Both dramas were a rating success with the final episode of Boys Over Flowers 2 peaking at 27.6.

This was the first time the two appeared together.

In 2011, her drama I'm Mita, Your Housekeeper. reached a viewer rating of 40%, making it one of the highest rated Japanese dramas of all time.

Matsushima was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.

In 2011, Matsushima starred in the hit I am Mita, Your Housekeeper, the final episode which garnered the rating of 40%, making it one of the highest rated Japanese dramas of all time.I am Mita, Your Housekeeper won several awards, including the Best Drama and Best Female Actress awards, at the 71st Television Drama Academy Awards.

Matsushima was also cast as the main lead in the cult classic horror film Ring, often cited as one of the best horror films of all time.

The movies also marked the second debut between Matsushima and Hiroyuki Sanada, who previously worked together in the drama A Story of love.

This film brought Matsushima worldwide recognition and it has since been remade into an American film.

The second was in 2012, when Matsushima starred in the comedy serial drama Lucky Seven, where she played the role as the President of Private Investigative Detective Firm, where Matsumoto plays a rookie detective.

The third time they appeared together, Matsushima played Matsumoto's character Chikara Nakagoshi's neighbor, Yoriko Michio, in 2022 drama My neighbor, Chikara.

The two shared another stage in NHK's 2023 Taiga drama What Will You Do, Ieyasu?, with her playing the role of Odai no Kata, mother to Matsumoto's Ieyasu Tokugawa.