Acting Career
She was discovered at the age of 14 by an agent and has worked in numerous television shows, movies and commercials. Her stage name is taken from the main character of Junko Kawakami's manga Golden Delicious Apple Sherbet.
She became famous outside Japan for her role in the 2000 film, Battle Royale, in which she portrayed the insane, ruthless Mitsuko Souma; her acting career took off with this movie and also raised her international profile particularly in East Asia. Shibasaki also won acclaim for her role in 2001 film, Go, which earned her several awards, among which the Best Supporting Actress Award of Japanese Academy, the Hōchi Movie Award, the Kinema Junpō Award.
In 2002, Shibasaki took a supporting role as Yuki Miyashita in the television mystery drama, Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi, where she co-starred with Takuya Kimura earning her an award as "Best Supporting Actress" while the show was named Best Drama at the 33rd Television Drama Academy Awards in Japan. She also starred in both seasons of Fuji TV drama Dr. Koto Shinryojo, which aired in 2003 and 2006 respectively. The show was awarded Best Drama at the 38th Television Drama Academy Awards for its first season. In 2003, she re-unites with her former co-star Takuya Kimura in a television drama about an airline pilot (Takuya Kimura) called Good Luck!!. The story revolves around an up-and-coming pilot, Hajime Shinkai and Kou plays his love-interest as an airline mechanic with a fear of flying.
She had also been slated to play the part of Yuki Yubari, the twin sister of Gogo Yubari, in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. She dropped out of the project due to commitments in Japan, and the character was eventually erased from the script altogether.
In 2005, Shibasaki appeared in the independent Japanese film Maison de Himiko. In this film, she plays Saori, an unhappy young woman whose father is gay. In 2006, she took the title role in Dororo, working with Satoshi Tsumabuki (her co-star from the 2004 television drama, Orange Days). The film topped the Japanese box office for nearly six weeks. Shibasaki participated in two more movies, Maiko Haaaan!!! (2007) and Shaolin Girl (2008).
Shibasaki returned to television in 2007 in the drama Galileo as the female lead co-starring with Masaharu Fukuyama. Highly rated among viewers (it finished its 10 episode run with an average viewership rating of 22%), the role continued her winning run in the medium when she won "Best Supporting Actress" at the 55th Television Drama Academy Awards. The show also won 5 other awards, including "Best Drama". It was followed by a film sequel, Suspect X, which was the 3rd best-selling film of 2008 in Japan.
In March 2011, it was announced that Shibasaki would make her "Hollywood debut" in a Keanu Reeves-led adaptation of the famous Chushingura story. A story of samurai loyalty and revenge and titled "47 Ronin," it is billed as the first ever English-language adaptation of the legend based on historical events in the early 18th century.
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