Winner, Best Performance By An Actor, 2009
Born in 1965, Masahiro Motoki’s acting debut was in the 1981 television drama series, Ninen B Gumi Senpachi Sensei and his feature film debut came in 1989 with Hideo Gosha’s 226, for which he received Japanese Academy Prize for Newcomer of the Year. He starred in Masayuki Suo’s Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t for which he received the 1993 Japanese Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Considered one of the leading actors in Japan, Motoki has worked alongside notable directors including Takashi Ishii in Gonin (1995), Takashi Miike in The Bird People of China (1998), Shinya Tsukamoto in Gemini (1999), and Masahiro Shinoda in Spy Sorge (2003). The original concept for Departures was developed by Motoki after he read a book based on the diaries of a man specialising in the ritual of encoffinment.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
