Veteran Japanese actor and voice actor Toru Shinagawa passed away on August 29 at the age of 90, his talent agency Knockout announced on Monday. Shinagawa had been undergoing medical treatment for lymphoma.
Decades on Stage and Screen
Born in Hokkaido in 1935, Shinagawa graduated from a performing arts institute in 1962 before joining a theater troupe led by Takeo Hodoshima. Over the course of six decades, he built a distinguished career across stage, television, film, and voice acting. Television viewers widely recognized him for his portrayal of a professor in the acclaimed 2003 medical drama series Shiroi Kyotō (The White Tower). In cinema, his leading performance in Nobuhiko Obayashi's 2014 film Seven Weeks earned him a special prize at the 24th Japan Film Professional Awards.
Shinagawa also made distinct contributions to manga and anime adaptations. He portrayed the King of Xerxes in the two-part live-action adaptation Fullmetal Alchemist: Final Chapter, played the Principal in the 2002 horror classic Dark Water, and appeared in the 2009 live-action film adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's manga MW.
A Legacy in Voice Acting
In animation, Shinagawa contributed memorable performances in several seminal projects:
- Hisashi Imakurusu in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
- Dollar Cross in Lupin III: Swallowtail Tattoo
- Professor Steamson in Project Blue Earth SOS
- Ichiro Shinohara in Fancy Lala
- Ak in Shōnen Santa no Daibōken
Shinagawa also lent his voice to guest and supporting roles in landmark anime including Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files, Wolf's Rain, Sorcerer Hunters, and Jinki:Extend.
