Netflix Movies Starring Akihiko Hirata
He had an unusual background for an actor: his formal education began in a kindergarten founded by the wartime-era Japanese Imperial Army, and continued in a military academy which was Tokyo's answer to West Point. Upon graduating from Tokyo University (Japan's most prestigious), Hirata confounded many family expectations of him by pursuing a career in acting. His first roles, in EVEN THE MIGHTY SHED TEARS and EMBRACE (1953), brought him to the attention of director Ishiro Honda, who promptly cast Hirata first in his WW2 romance FAREWELL RABAUL (1954) and then, later that year, in the role that would come to define Hirata's career: the tormented, one-eyed scientist Daisuke Serizawa, who alone has figured out a way to destroy the monster GOJIRA. That movie made stars out of all of the younger actors who were fortunate enough to star in it, though Hirata tended more towards second leads and character parts. Read more on iMDB