Haruhiko Yamanouchi

Born in Tokyo, he has resided in Italy since 1975 and holds Italian citizenship.

Beginning his career as a mime, he has performed in and choreographed for numerous stage productions. Since 1976, he has acted in over 100 films and television series, including several 1980s genre films directed by the likes of Sergio Martino, Ruggero Deodato and Enzo G. Castellari. He is best known to international audiences for his villainous supporting roles in Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Wolverine. He has also translated and dubbed Japanese-language films into Italian.

Yamanouchi was born in Tokyo. His grandfather, Akio Yamauchi, was a children's book writer. He grew up in Niigata Prefecture and graduated from Niigata High School and went on to study liberal arts at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. After graduation in 1971, he moved to London where he attended drama and dancing lessons. He was among the disciples of mime artist Lindsay Kemp.

Theatre

While in London, he joined Stomu Yamashta's Red Buddha Theatre company, performing at the Roundhouse and the Piccadilly Theatre. He moved to Italy in 1975 and he began his career as an actor in experimental stage productions, appearing at pantomime festivals like the Festival Internazionale di mimo e pantomima in Florence and Settembre al Borgo in Campania. He was a regular guest on RAI programming, where he would demonstrate his various acts. He first gained recognition for his stage acting in a production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest where he played the role of Ariel in over 300 stagings and earned him a Premio Internazionale Guido d'Arezzo.

As a choreographer, Yamanouchi specializes in opera, collaborating with directors like Mauro Bolognini, Andrea Camilleri, Giancarlo Cobelli, Glauco Mauri, Mario Missiroli, Giuliano Montaldo and Luca Ronconi. He choreographed a production of Turandot held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

Film and television

Yamanouchi is made his screen acting debut with an uncredited role in the 1975 Fantozzi, directed by Luciano Salce. He appeared in numerous erotic comedies and B-movies throughout the 1980s, including Crime at the Chinese Restaurant (1981), 2020 Texas Gladiators (1982), The Sword of the Barbarians (1982), 2019, After the Fall of New York (1983), Endgame (1983), Warriors of the Year 2072 (1984), Under the Chinese Restaurant (1987), Phantom of Death (1988). He was occasionally credited under the pseudonym Al Huang.

More high-profile roles taken by Yamanouchi include starring in Adriano Celentano's musical Joan Lui (1985) and in Gabriele Salvatores's science-fiction film Nirvana (1997). He also appeared in several American productions, such as Stuart Gordon's Robot Jox (1990), Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Paul McGuigan's Push (2009) and Peter Weir's The Way Back (2010). He most notably portrayed the older Ichirō Yashida / Silver Samurai in The Wolverine (2013) (sharing the main antagonist's role with Ken Yamamura), starring opposite Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto and Hiroyuki Sanada and also dubbed over his own dialogue and Ken Yamamura's in the Italian-language version of the film.

Yamanouchi has translated and dubbed numerous Japanese-language films and television series into Italian and occasionally vice versa. He is the Italian voice actor of Ken Watanabe, also voiced Floyd Eaglesan in the Italian dubbed version of Despicable Me 2 (2013).

Teaching

Yamanouchi co-founded MDA Produzioni Danza, a dance and performing arts school in the Castelnuovo di Porto neighbourhood of Rome. He has also taught at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and the Teatro Carlo Felice. He has also conducted numerous internships for mimes, dancers and actors for various associations, foundations and theater schools, on the themes of improvisation, spontaneous movements and acting with the kinesthetic approach.

From his relationship with TG3 journalist Teresa Piazza, he has a son, Taiyo Yamanouchi, who is an actor and hip hop artist who performs under the stage name 'Hyst'. He has also served as a secondary father figure to Jesto, Taiyo's half-brother from Piazza's relationship with Stefano Rosso.

Yamanouchi has resided in Rome since emigrating to Italy in 1975. He became a naturalized citizen in 1992. He is fluent in Japanese, Italian and English and has performed in all three languages. He has penned a number of essays on Italian and Japanese culture for Italian literary magazines and has contributed to UNESCO's International Theatre Institute.

Film

• Fantozzi (1975)
• Basta che non si sappia in giro (1976)
• Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)
• Gardenia (1979)
• Saturday, Sunday and Friday (1979
• The Humanoid (1979)
• I'm Photogenic (1980)
• The Last Hunter (1980)
• Arrivano i gatti (1980)
• Crime at the Chinese Restaurant (1981)
• The Lady of the Camellias (1981)
• 2020 Texas Gladiators (1982)
• Endgame (1983)
• Sing Sing (1983)
• Hearts and Armour (1983)
• The Sword of the Barbarians (1983)
• 2019, After the Fall of New York (1983)
• Warriors of the Year 2072 (1984)
• Anche lei fumava il sigaro... (1985)
• Nell'acqua (1985)
• Joan Lui (1985)
• Lone Runner (1986)
• 7 chili in 7 giorni (1986)
• Under the Chinese Restaurant (1987)
• Phantom of Death (1988)
• Treno di panna (1988)
• The Gamble (1988)
• Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989)
• Robot Jox (1990)
• Blue Dolphin - L'avventura continua (1990)
• Un orso chiamato Arturo (1992)
• Genghis Khan (1992) - Unfinished
• Graffiante desiderio (1993)
• La regina degli uomini pesce (1995)
• Il tocco - La sfida (1996)
• We Free Kings (1996)
• Banzai (1997)
• Nirvana (1997)
• The Fish in Love (1999)
• All the Moron's Men (1999)
• Tutta la conoscenza del mondo (2001)
• Last Food (2004)
• Movimenti (2004)
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
• Tutte le donne della mia vita (2007)
• This Night Is Still Ours (2008)
• The Rage (2008)
• Push (2009)
• The Way Back (2010)
• Tarda estate (2010)
• Gorbaciof (2010)
• All at Sea (2011)
• Sins Expiation (2012)
• The Day of the Siege: September Eleven 1683 (2012)
• Niente può fermarci (2013)
• The Mercury Factor (2013)
• The Wolverine (2013)
• The Girl from Nagasaki (2013)
• Colpi di fortuna (2013)
• A Boss in the Living Room (2014)
• Ebola (2015)
• Zoolander 2 (2016)
• The Confessions (2016)
• Al posto tuo (2016)
• The Slider (2017)
• Addio fottuti musi verdi (2017)
• San Valentino Stories (2018)
• La fuitina sbagliata (2018)
• Hard Night Falling (2019)
• Romantic Guide to Lost Places (2020)
• Defectum (2020)
• They Talk (2021)
• Medium (2021)
• Luka (2023)
• Land of Women (2023)
• Diabolik: Who Are You? (2023)

Television

• Christopher Columbus (1985)
• Atelier (1986)
• I figli dell'ispettore (1986)
• Treasure Island in Outer Space (1987)
• Tutti in palestra (1987)
• House of Lost Souls (1989)
• Un inviato molto speciale (1992)
• Italian Restaurant (1994)
• The Fishmen and Their Queen (1995)
• Don Matteo (2001)
• La moglie cinese (2006)
• L'ispettore Coliandro (2006)
• Dove la trovi una come me? (2011)
• Inspector Rex (2011-2014)
• Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist (2014)
• Il bosco (2015)
• Strike Back (2015)
• Zio Gianni (2016)
• Squadra mobile (2017)
• The Swarm (2023)

Animation

• Floyd Eaglesan in Despicable Me 2
• Bernie Lumem in Elemental

Live action

• Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai
• Ra's al Ghul's Decoy in Batman Begins
• Mr. Saito in Inception
• Dr. Ishirō Serizawa in Godzilla, Godzilla: King of the Monsters
• Hideo Yoshida in Pokémon: Detective Pikachu
• Nobusuke Tagomi in The Man in the High Castle
• Hara Jubei in Silk
• Hard Master in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• General Shang in Arrival
• Maezumi in The Ramen Girl
• Mochitsura Hashimoto in USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage
• Kakuro Ozu in The Hedgehog
• Ichirō Yashida / Silver Samurai in The Wolverine
• Ichizo in Silence
• Mr. Tatyama in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
• Toru Iwatani in Pixels
• Harry's adoptive father in Dumb and Dumber To
• Mr. Musha in Speed Racer
• Watari in Death Note
• Professor Hasegawa and other voices in They Talk