Sato won the Japan Academy Award for New Actor for his first-ever film appearance, in The Gate of Youth (1981), and went on to claim Japan Academy Awards for Crest of Betrayal (1994), Whiteout (2000), When the Last Sword Is Drawn (2003) and 64: Part 1 (2016), among many other acting honors. He has starred in over 100 films, but three recent titles that demonstrate his versatility are Red Snow (JC 2019), in which he’s an abusive alcoholic, Hit Me Anyone One More Time (2019), in which he’s a journalist hilariously blackmailing the prime minister, and The Promised Land (2019), in which he’s a mourning widower who has trouble with distrustful villagers. His upcoming films include Damashie, The Sun Does Not Move, and Silent Tokyo: And So This Is Christmas.
→Stay tuned for a video greeting from CUT ABOVE Award recipients Koichi Sato and Ken Watanabe.