Toshiyuki Nishida (西田 敏行, Nishida Toshiyuki, born November 4, 1947) is a Japanese actor. He has won two Japanese Academy Awards for best actor, for The Silk Road (1988) and Tsuribaka Nisshi 6 (1993). He has also won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor for Get Up! and Tsuribaka Nisshi 14 (2003). Outside Japan he is best known for his role as Pigsy (Cho Hakkai) in Monkey.
Nishida serves as the current President of Japan Actors Union and Vice President of the Japan Academy Film Prize Organization Committee. He received the Order of the Rising Sun in 2018.
Nishida was born Toshiyuki Imai[1] on November 4, 1947, in Kōriyama, Fukushima, to Izumi and Kie Imai. His biological father Izumi worked at the Kōriyama Postal Savings Bureau, and was born to the family of a karō, a top-ranking samurai official. Izumi died when Nishida was young, and Kie raised him while working as a beautician. After Kie remarried, Nishida, five years old at the time,[1] was adopted by Kie's younger sister and her husband,[1][2] Miyo and Tatsuji Nishida, respectively.[1] His adoptive father's ancestors served Shimazu Nariakira, the daimyo of Satsuma Domain, and defended Satsuma during the Anglo-Satsuma War.[2]
Nishida and his adoptive parents lived at a Shinto shrine's office, and although Tatsuji worked at the Kōriyama City Hall, the family was barely making a living. Tatsuji took him to the movies in the weekends, which inspired Nishida to join the drama club at his elementary school. During middle school, he told his parents that he wanted to become an actor and received strong support from his parents. During high school, he moved to Tokyo to "learn standard Japanese". In 1968, he entered an acting school, and his parents moved to Tokyo to support him.[1]
In Japan, he is best known for his fishing comedy series, Tsuribaka Nisshi ("The Fishing Maniac's Diary"), which currently spans 21 movies. Outside Japan Nishida may be best known for his portrayal of Pigsy in the first season of the TV series Monkey, or for his role in the 2008 film The Ramen Girl, as the sensei of American actress Brittany Murphy's character.
Nishida has received ten Japanese Academy Award nominations, winning twice, for best actor in The Silk Road in 1988 as Gakko, and for best actor in Tsuribaka Nisshi 6 in 1993.[3] He won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Get Up! and Tsuribaka Nisshi 14.[4]
In 2017, Nishida reprised his role as Yakuza underboss Nishino in Takeshi Kitano's Outrage trilogy to positive reviews.
In 2018, Nishida received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, alongside comedian Takeshi Kitano.[5]
Nishida serves as President of Japan Actors Union and Vice President of the Japan Academy Film Prize Organization Committee.[6][7] He is one of the 'Frontier Ambassadors' for his hometown of Kōriyama City.[8]
