Megumi Odaka | |
---|---|
Born |
Kanagawa, Japan |
May 9, 1972
Occupation | Actress, Singer |
Years active | 1984–2000 |
Notable work | Godzilla vs. Biollante. Godzilla vs.King Ghidorah. Godzilla vs. Destroyah. |
Megumi Odaka (小高恵美 Odaka Megumi?, born May 9, 1972 in Kanagawa, Japan), is a former Japanese idol, actress and singer.
After winning the "TOHO Cinderella" beauty contest in 1987, where she took place with 1984 winner Yasuko Sawaguchi, she made her film debut as the blind girl Akeno in the movie "Taketori Monogatari" aka "Princess from the Moon". The following year she won a Japanese Academy Award for "Rookie of the year" for her performance in this movie, amongst others.
In 1988 she starred in the TV series Hana no Asuka-gumi! as Asuka Kuraku along with Natsuki Ozawa and Hikari Ishida, based on a manga series about a 14-year-old delinquent girl.
After playing roles in a number of TV series, she landed the role of Miki Saegusa in Godzilla vs. Biollante in 1989( although her characters back story was first introduced in the manga adaption of 1984 reboot). At this time she was a second year high school student and was first afraid of the Godzilla costume. But she quickly befriended suit-actor Kenpachiro Satsuma. TOHO was impressed with her acting skills and she ended up playing Miki Saegusa in the following installment and the rest of the Heisei Series.
She was one of the few actors to play the same role in more than one original Japanese release of a Godzilla film (Takashi Shimura played Dr. Kyouhei Yamane in the first two films, Raymond Burr reprised his role as Steve Martin in the edited American releases Godzilla, King of the Monsters! and Godzilla 1985, Yumiko Shaku starred as Akane Yashiro in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and returned briefly for its sequel Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., and finally Momoko Kochi who portrayed Emiko Yamane on the original 1954 Godzilla film reprised her role in a cameo appearance in Godzilla vs. Destroyah).