Naoto Takenaka

Naoto Takenaka (Japanese: 竹中直人; born March 20, 1956) is a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director signed to Ladybird. He plays Hinode Isao in the 2026 MBS boys’ love drama The Boy and I Who Will Break Up in 100 Days, one of the veteran names in the supporting cast.

Born in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, he graduated from the Department of Design, Graphic Design course at Tama Art University in 1980, and later returned to the school as a visiting professor. Performing came to him early: in middle school he worked past a shy streak by developing a talent for mimicry, and he was already making homemade films in high school. He made his television debut in 1983 on TV Asahi’s comedy showcase The Television Engei, working his way from stand-up comedy into a decades-long acting career.

His screen credits span comedy, drama and arthouse cinema, including RAMPO, Shall We Dance?, and Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score, in which he plays conductor Franz von Stresemann, a role he originated in the television series. In Shall We Dance? (1996) he is the exuberant cha-cha dancer. He has won the Best Supporting Actor prize at the Japan Academy Film Prize three times.

In 1996 he also starred as the title character in NHK’s year-long Taiga drama Hideyoshi, one of six separate occasions on which he has played the historical warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi across his career. That single year therefore holds both a broad dance-hall comedy turn and the lead of the broadcaster’s flagship historical series.

Directing runs alongside the acting. His feature debut in 1991, Muno no Hito, adapted a manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge and won the international critics’ prize at the Venice Film Festival. He followed it with 119 (1994), Tokyo Biyori (1997) and Rendan (2001), and he wrote the screenplay of 119 and acted in all three of those later films. In 2021 he shared directing duties on Zokki with Takayuki Yamada and Takumi Saito. He was named a Tourism Ambassador for France in 2012.