Eijiro Ozaki

Eijiro Ozaki (尾崎英二郎) is a Japanese actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing characters, such as Lieutenant Okubo in Letters from Iwo Jima , Young Kaito Nakamura in Heroes Season 2 and as Masao Kume in Little Boy.

At the age of 20, he spent one year at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln as an exchange student. That was when he had his first acting experience in front of the cameras for an American televised educational program and gave him hint of his potential as an actor.

He made his first professional stage debut in 1994 playing Jim, the lead role in Rebel Without A Cause, performed entirely in English, and dived into his full-time acting career. He started learning Sanford Meisner's techniques under Yoko Narahashi at the United Performers' Studio, Tokyo in 1994. In 1995, he was coached by Frank Corsaro, a former Actors Studio, New York artistic director, in his drama training.

In 1997, he was singled out to play opposite a popular actress in the National Television drama series Agri. This TV debut gave him more chances to appear in the New Year special drama Uesugi Yozan (1998) and the prime time historical epic Genroku Ryoran (1999).

His breakthrough came as Lt. Yamamoto in the Elle Company production The Winds Of God, one of Japan's most popular straight plays. In 1998, the play was performed for one month at the Judith Anderson Theater, on Off-Off-Broadway in New York. In 1999, the troop went on the National Tour in Japan and gave a 2-month run in New York again at the American Place Theater on Off Broadway. With its total estimated viewing audience of nearly 40,000, The Winds Of God became an excellent opportunity for Ozaki to gain maximum exposure to theater fans. Playing the 3rd lead role, Lieutenant Yamamoto, a Kamikaze pilot. Ozaki showed his potential in both comedy and tragedy. Then he won acclaim by New York critics in 5 reviews of papers and magazines such as The New Yorker, Daily News, Newsday and more.

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