SABU
Known For
Directing
Born
1964-11-18 in Wakayama, Japan
Biography
Sabu (サブ, Sabu, born November 18, 1964) is the pseudonym of Japanese actor and director Hiroyuki Tanaka. Born in Wakayama Prefecture, Sabu studied at an Osaka fashion school before deciding to go to Tokyo to become a professional musician. It was suggested he try acting and in 1986 he made his film debut in Sorobanzuku. He earned his first starring role in the 1991 World Apartment Horror, a live-action film directed by Katsuhiro Ōtomo of Akira fame. Working from a script he wrote himself, he made his directorial debut with the 1996 Dangan Runner, a film that set his early style of "quirky action-comedies propelled by characters who hurtle headlong though squirming narratives steered more by the forces of incidence and coincidence than the actions of the protagonists themselves." Shin'ichi Tsutsumi played the lead in Sabu's first five films. Blessing Bell, starring Susumu Terajima (who has played minor roles in nearly all of Sabu's films), was a turn away from his kinetic, parodic, and black comedy narratives, and earned the NETPAC Award at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. Later films featured the J-pop band V6. In 2009, he directed The Crab Cannery Ship, a modern adaptation of a classic of Japanese proletarian literature written by Takiji Kobayashi. He has continued to work as an actor, such as in Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer (2001). His film Chasuke's Journey was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.
Most Known For
Silence
as Samurai #1
Ichi the Killer
as Kaneko
Kiriko
Sakuran
as Patron
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
as Patron
Postman Blues
as Kurokawa
Don't Look Up
as Sekikawa
Shinjuku Triad Society
as Shusuke Shimada
Dangan Runner
as Assassin
Zëiram 2
as Fujikuro (as Sabu)
Unlucky Monkey
as Bank Robber
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Heist
as Domoto
A Legend of Turmoil
800 Two Lap Runners
as Kyoichi Nakazawa
World Apartment Horror
as Ita
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Gamble
Kuma-chan
Savage City: Angel Whisper
Warrior's Justice 2: Full Battle
