Yuko Takeuchi

Yūko Takeuchi
竹内 結子
Takeuchi at the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival, 2015
Born	(1980-04-01)1 April 1980 Urawa, Saitama, Japan
Died	27 September 2020(2020-09-27) (aged 40) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1996–2020
Agent	Stardust Promotion
Spouses	Nakamura Shidō II ​ ​ (m. 2005; div. 2008)​ Taiki Nakabayashi ​ (m. 2019)​
Children	2

Yūko Takeuchi (竹内 結子, Takeuchi Yūko; 1 April 1980 – 27 September 2020) was a Japanese actress. She is known for her roles in television series Asuka (1999), Pride (2004), FlashForward (2009), and Miss Sherlock (2018) as well as films such as Ring (1998), Yomigaeri (2003), and Dog in a Sidecar (2007).

Life and career

Takeuchi was born on 1 April 1980 in Urawa, Saitama, Japan.^[1] She was "discovered" during spring break in Harajuku after junior high school.

Takeuchi was married to Shidō Nakamura II (who had co-starred with Takeuchi in the film Be With You) from 10 May 2005 until their divorce on 29 February 2008.^[2] She had a son with Nakamura who was born in November 2005. Prior to the couple's divorce, Nakamura had apologized for a drunk driving incident where he was with actress Aya Okamoto and later seen with actress Saki Takaoka. After the drunk driving incident, Takeuchi reportedly moved to live in her management office shortly before filing for divorce in October 2006.^[3]

Takeuchi married actor Taiki Nakabayashi on 27 February 2019. Her son, in junior high school at the time was reported to have actively encouraged her second marriage.^{[citation needed]} In November 2019, she announced she was pregnant and gave birth to her second son in January 2020.^[4][5][6]

Takeuchi was known for her earlier roles, starring in Japanese television dramas such as Mukodono (My Husband), The Queen of Lunchtime Cuisine, Egao No Hōsoku, and Pride, as well as NHK's Asadora television series Asuka. In the romantic comedies Mukodono, she and Nagase Tomoya played newlyweds and in The Queen of Lunchtime Cuisine, she played a girl with a mysterious past who loves her lunch. In the drama Egao no Hōsoku, her character experiences meeting new people while supporting a manga writer and in Pride, her character is the love interest of a hockey player portrayed by Takuya Kimura.^[7]

Takeuchi's earlier films include Hoshi Ni Negaiwo, Yomigaeri, and Be with You (Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu). Her performances in Yomigaeri (2003), Be With You (2004), and Spring Snow (2005) were recognized by the Japanese Academy Awards.^[8] She later won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Japanese Academy Awards for her role in the 2014 film Cape Nostalgia.^[9]

In 2010, Takeuchi appeared on the science fiction American TV serial FlashForward in two episodes (as a character portrayed in five). Director Michael Nankin called her "Japan's answer to Audrey Hepburn." Takeuchi's dialogue was in Japanese, but she said the experience caused her to make it a goal to master English as she wished she had been able to communicate better with the other cast members and crew.^[10]

In 2018, Takeuchi portrayed the titular character in Hulu/HBO Asia series Miss Sherlock, an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories.^[11]

Death

On 27 September 2020 at 2:00 a.m. (JST), Takeuchi was found hanged^[4] at her home in Shibuya, Tokyo.^[12] She was taken to the hospital, but died shortly afterwards. No suicide note has been found.^[13] She was 40 years old.^[14][15]

Filmography

Television

• Cyborg (1996 Fuji TV)
• Nice Guy (1997 Fuji TV)
• Shin-D (1997 NTV)
• Frozen Summer (1998 NTV) as Junko Moriguchi
• Setsunai (1998 TV Asahi)
• Dangerous Police Forever (1998 NTV) as Asuka Fubuki
• Kantaro Terauchi's Family in autumn 1998 (1998 TBS) as Misuzu Kawachi
• Nanisama (1998 TBS) as Yuri Kimura
• Romance (1999 NTV) as Kotoe Kurasawa
• Asuka (1999 NHK Asadora) as Asuka Miyamoto^[16]
• Friends (2000 TBS) as Miyuki Matsuno
• Stories of 100 Years in episode 2 (2000 TBS) as Toshiko Nagai
• Style! (2000 TV Asahi) as Shiori Sakakibara
• A White Shadow (2001 TBS) as Noriko Shimura
• Mukodono! (2001 Fuji TV) as Sakura Arai
• School Teacher (2001 TBS) as Motoko Asakura
• The Queen of Lunchtime Cuisine (2002 Fuji TV) as Natsumi Mugita^[17]
• The Law of the Smile (2003 TBS) as Yumi Kurasawa
• Autumn in Warsaw (2003 YTV) as Yoko Aoki
• Pride (2004 Fuji TV) as Aki Murase
• New York Love Story (2004 Fuji TV) as Eiko Fujikura
• Fukigen na Jiin (The Selfish Gene) (2005) as Yoshiko Aoi
• Bara no nai Hanaya (2008) as Miou Shirato
• FlashForward (2009 ABC) as Keiko Arahida
• Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku (2010) as Shiori Kitamura
• Strawberry Night (2012) as Reiko Himekawa
• cheap flight (2013)
• Sanada Maru (2016 NHK) as Yodo-dono^[18]
• Kamoshirenai Joyū tachi (2016 Fuji TV) as herself
• A Life (2017 TBS) as Mifuyu Danjō
• Miss Sherlock (2018 Hulu, HBO) as Sara "Sherlock" Shelly Futaba (Sherlock Holmes)
• Innocent Days (2018 Wowow) as Yukino Tanaka
• Queen (2019 Fuji TV)

Film

• Innocent World (1998) – Ami
• Ring (1998) – Tomoko Oishi
• Big Show! Sing in Hawaii (1999) – Satomi Takahashi
• Night of the Shooting Star (2003) – Kana Aoshima
• Yomigaeri (2003) – Aoi Tachibana
• Heaven's Bookstore – The Light of Love (2004) – Shoko Hiyama / Kanako Nagase
• Be with You (2004) – Mio Aio
• Spring Snow (2005) – Satoko Ayakura
• A Dog on Sidecar (2007) – Yōko
• The World According to Chocolat (2007) – Chocolat
• Closed Note (2007) – Ibuki Mano
• Midnight Eagle (2007) – Keiko Arisawa
• The Glorious Team Batista (2008) – Kimiko Taguchi
• The Triumphant of General Rouge (2009) – Kimiko Taguchi
• No More Cry (2009) – Tetsuko Yamagishi
• Golden Slumbers (2010) – Haruko Higuchi
• Flowers (2010) – Kaoru
• 1,778 Stories of Me and My Wife (2011) – Setsuko
• A Ghost of a Chance (2011)
• Hayabusa (2011, 20th Century Fox) – Megumi
• Cape Nostalgia (2014)^[19]
• Creepy (2016) – Yasuko Takakura
• The Magnificent Nine (2016) – Toki
• The Inerasable (2016) – I
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles (2018)
• The Confidence Man JP: The Movie (2019)
• A Long Goodbye (2019)^[20]
• The 47 Ronin in Debt (2019) – Riku^[21]
• The Confidence Man JP: Episode of the Princess (2020)^[22]

Other

Narrator

• Wonderful Spaceship Earth (2002 TV Asahi)
• If the World is 100 Villages 6 (2009 TV Fuji)
• The Nonfiction (2010 TV Fuji)
• Eko's manners (2011 BS Asahi)

Dubbing roles

• Inside Out – Joy (Amy Poehler)^[23]
• Titanic (2001 Fuji TV edition) – Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet)

Works

Essay

• Nioi Fechi (2004 Pia)
• Nioi Fechi 2 calorie off (2006 Pia)

Photo essay

• Tabibon (travel diary of Tahiti) (2007 SDP)

Supplies-of-provisions catalog

• Takeuchi Marche

Single

• Tada Kaze Wa Fukukara (1998 Pony Canyon)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work(s)	Result	Ref.
2002	26th Elan d'or Awards	Newcomer of the Year	Herself	Won	[24]
2002	6th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix	Best Actress	The Queen of Lunchtime Cuisine	Won	[25]
2003	7th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix	Best Actress	Pride	Won	[25]
2004	27th Japan Academy Film Prize	Best Actress	Yomigaeri	Nominated	[26]
2005	28th Japan Academy Film Prize	Best Actress	Be with You	Nominated	[27]
2006	29th Japan Academy Film Prize	Best Actress	Spring Snow	Nominated	[28]
2007	20th Nikkan Sports Film Awards	Best Actress	Dog in a Sidecar	Won	[29]

References

1. "Japanese actor and 'Ringu' star Yuko Takeuchi has died, aged 40". NME. 27 September 2020.
2. "Remembering Yuko Takeuchi Through 8 of Her Most Memorable Roles". Tokyo Weekender. 28 September 2020.
3. "Speed Divorce for Shido, Yuko | Japan Zone".
4. "Japanese actress Yuko Takeuchi, 40, found dead at home in apparent suicide". Japan Today. 27 September 2020. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
5. "竹内結子が第２子妊娠！中林大樹との子、来年２月出産へ". SANSPO.COM（サンスポ）. 29 August 2019.
6. "竹内結子が第２子男児出産、母子とも健康すでに退院 – 芸能 : 日刊スポーツ". nikkansports.com.
7. Egao no housoku (Comedy, Romance), Hidetoshi Nishijima, Hiroshi Abe, Yûko Takeuchi, TBS Service, 6 April 2003, retrieved 31 July 2024
8. Wiseman, Andreas (27 September 2020). "Yuko Takeuchi Dies Aged 40: Japanese Actress Starred In 'Miss Sherlock' & 'The Ring'". Deadline. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
9. Schilling, Mark (27 September 2020). "Takeuchi Yuko, Japanese Actress, Dies at 40". Variety. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
10. "Yuko Takeuchi goes on a flight of fantasy". Japan Today. 21 January 2011.
11. Smith, Alyssa I. (26 April 2018). "Yuko Takeuchi steps into an iconic role on 'Miss Sherlock' with elementary ease". The Japan Times. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
12. "Japanese Actress Yuko Takeuchi Dies in Apparent Suicide". Nippon Communications Foundation. 27 September 2020. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
13. "Takeuchi Yuko Death Remains a Mystery for Japan". 28 September 2020.
14. "Japanese actress Yuko Takeuchi, 40, dies in apparent suicide – the Mainichi". mainichi.jp. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
15. "Miss Sherlock actress Yuko Takeuchi found dead". BBC News. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
16. "連続テレビ小説 あすか〈第61作〉". NHK (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
17. "ランチの女王の出演者・キャスト一覧". The Television (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
18. "真田丸". Haiyaku Jiten (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
19. ふしぎな岬の物語(2014). allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
20. "長いお別れ". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
21. "決算! 忠臣蔵". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
22. "コンフィデンスマンJP プリンセス編". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
23. "インサイド・ヘッド". The Cinema. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
24. "ja:エランドール賞歴代受賞者一覧" [List of Élan d'Or awardee] (in Japanese). All Nippon Producers Association. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
25. "日刊スポーツ・ドラマグランプリ 歴代の受賞者・受賞作品". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
26. "第27回 日本アカデミー賞 (2004年)". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
27. "第28回 日本アカデミー賞 (2005年)". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
28. "第29回 日本アカデミー賞 (2006年)". eiga.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.
29. "日刊スポーツ映画大賞 歴代受賞者・作品". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 August 2025.

External links

• Yuko Takeuchi at IMDb