Asian Film Award for Best Actor 2009 Departures Japanese Academy Award for Best Newcomer 1990 226 Japanese Academy Award for Best Actor 1993 Sumo Do, Sumo Don't 2009 Departures Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor 1993 Sumo Do, Sumo Don't 2009 Departures Hochi Film Award for Best Actor 1992 Sumo Do, Sumo Don't Japanese Professional Movie Award for Best Actor 1992 Bang! Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actor 2009 Departures Mainichi Film Concours for Best Actor 1999 The Bird People in China Nikkan Sports Film Award for Best Actor 1999 The Bird People in China Tokyo International Film Festival (Best Actor) 1993 Last Song Yokohama Film Festival (Best Actor) 1993 Sumo Do, Sumo Don't
Motoki started his entertainment career as a member of boy bandShibugakitai (シブがき隊) (the name of the band contains a portmanteau of tough (渋い, Shibui) and kids (ガキ, gaki), a homonym of astringent persimmon (渋柿, Shibugaki)). The band made its debut in 1982 under the management of Johnny & Associates and was popular for a good part of the 1980s.
After the band broke up Motoki turned to acting. His first main role in a film was as a Zen monk in the comedy Fancy Dance (ファンシイダンス, Fanshii Dansu) directed by Masayuki Suo. Motoki also starred in Suo's next film, Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (シコふんじゃった。, Shiko Funjatta.), which practically introduced him to audiences outside Japan. He then worked with directors such as Takashi Miike (The Bird People in China (中国の鳥人, Chūgoku no Chōjin)) and Shinya Tsukamoto (Gemini (双生児, Sōseiji)).
Motoki's breakthrough to international fame came with the 2008 film Departures (おくりびと, Okuribito) directed by Yōjirō Takita, in which he plays a cellist turned mortician. The film received the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 81st Academy Awards, as well as six acting awards for Motoki. The film project started from an idea of Motoki's after he read a book written by a professional mortician.
Family
He married essayist and musician Yayako Uchida, the daughter of actress Kirin Kiki and rock'n roll singer Yuya Uchida, in 1995. As a mukoyōshi, he took his wife's surname, which is thus his legal surname.[2] The couple have three children.