In the early 2000s, Yoko Osaka, a Japanese actress and screenwriter, began writing her first script for a TV drama.
Her first episode, a remake of the original Japanese drama “I Love You, I Love You,” was released in 1999.
It won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Venice Film Festival and won a Golden Globe Award in the Best TV Series category.
“It’s just a huge thrill,” she told Newsweek at the time.
“I was completely in love with the show at the start.”
But after that first episode aired, Osaka began to realize the drama’s limitations.
“After a few months, I realized I was in the wrong place, that I was not going to be able to have a career as a house-agent,” she said.
“The only thing I could do was go into drama.
I was already making a lot of money writing the scripts, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”
She continued: “I had to make a decision: ‘What is this really all about?'”
Osaka went on to write several episodes of the show before she was offered a role on the series as a new house agent.
In 2010, Osako became the first female house agent to win a Golden Lion at the Cannes Film Festival.
“Yokoosukas story was about a young girl who was looking for a life that was fulfilling and not so demanding,” she explained.
“Her journey, the journey of finding happiness, is what really inspired me.”
After a successful career in drama and acting, Osaki was invited to join the New York-based show “House Hunters” in 2012, which has been based in Los Angeles since 2014.
The show focuses on the lives of five house agents, each of whom has their own personal story.
The shows goal is to help people find what they want in life, but it’s also about “telling a story that’s really true to who they are,” Osaka told Newsweek.
“A lot of people have heard the stories and the people, and it’s kind of like that big secret, the secret to their happiness.”
Osaka is now an executive producer of the series.
Osaka also starred in the film “A Little Lesson” (2012), a documentary about the life of Japanese actor Shinichi Nishino.
She also appeared in the 2013 film “The Secret” (2013), which chronicles the life and career of British actor Daniel Craig.
In 2016, Osakas memoir “I Don’t Want You” was published, which includes her story and her experiences working with Japanese actors, including her mentor Miyako Shimazaki.
Osakus life and work are a part of the upcoming “House Agents: Tokyo” film, which will be released on December 15.
“House agents is about the people behind the scenes and behind the curtain,” Osako told Newsweek in 2014.
“This is a story of a Japanese house agent who is trying to help someone in need and a Japanese writer who is working in Hollywood, trying to get her work noticed.”
Osakakas career began in the 1980s, when she was a model.
“My mother gave me my first lessons in the art of acting when I was about four,” Osakamis memoir states.
“When I was 10, I started doing theatre shows.
I got the part of my dreams.
I had to find my own path, and that’s what I was always doing.”
The role that first attracted Osakamas attention was in “The Phantom of the Opera,” the Japanese adaptation of the Italian opera “La Bohème.”
“I saw a show called The Phantom of Opera and I thought it was brilliant, and then I realized that I could be a part,” Osaki told Newsweek after she landed the role.
“There was a lot I wanted, and there was a movie I wanted as well.
But it was a huge shock.”
Osaki soon followed that up with roles in Japanese films like “The Last Samurai” and “My Neighbor Totoro.”
Osamis acting career also took off after her husband, a professional model, died from cancer.
“He died suddenly in my arms at 50 years old,” she recalled.
“We were all in mourning.
We had to put aside the things we wanted to say, and we started living our lives.”
In 2017, Osamys first film, “Kanako no Kiseki,” was awarded the Golden Lion Award at the New Zealand Film Awards.
“Kane” won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and the film received a Golden Bear at the International Documentary Film Festival in 2018.
“All of the sudden, I was back in the news,” Osamos father, actor Takashi Osamaki, told Newsweek when asked about his daughters career.
