Kenjiro Tsuda
津田 健次郎
Tsuda at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2023
Born	(1971-06-11) June 11, 1971 (age 52)[1] Osaka Prefecture, Japan[1]
Alma mater	Meiji University
Occupations	actor voice actor film director
Years active	1995 – present
Agent	ANDSTIR
Height	170 cm (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Children	2
Website	tsudaken.jp

Kenjiro Tsuda (津田 健次郎, Tsuda Kenjirō, born June 11, 1971) is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and film director. His talent agency is ANDSTIR.

Early life

Tsuda lived in Jakarta^[2] until he was seven years old. He is a graduate of Meiji University, where he majored in theater studies in the department of literature;^[2] originally, he had considered wanting to make films as a movie director, when he also had an interest in the field of performing.^[3] At the En • Theater Research Institute, he took and passed a non-degree course, being enthusiastic about theater work.^[4]

Career

After his graduation from a trading school, Tsuda had belonged to a theatre group office. In so doing, there was talk of auditions, and Tsuda made his debut in voice acting^[5] as Atsushi Noda in the 1995 animated television series "H2." He had been living in poverty to the extent of agonizing over buying even a single piece of bread, but this work became a turning point for him.^[6]

Tsuda likes both filming and watching movies. While at university, he joined a film making club. He began attending movie theaters in junior high; though he had watched old Western movies until senior high and focused on artistic films after entering college, fundamentally his interest lies, evidently, in non-genres.^[3]

In 2017, when Keiji Fujiwara was recovering from illness, Tsuda took charge as a substitute actor for a few roles (those of Isami Enomoto in "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love," Hannes in "Attack on Titan").

On February 2, 2019, Tsuda debuted as a film director with his release of "Documentertainment AD-LIVE" (the term being a portmanteau of "documentary" and "entertainment").^[7]

On November 24, 2020, "Actor's Short Film" — a project launched by WOWOW to commemorate the station's 30th year since its opening: Five actors (facing the same conditions, such as budget and time) would individually direct short films up to 25 minutes long each; one of those five films will be chosen, based on the votes of viewers and film critics, to be presented at the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia held in 2021^[8] — was announced on Twitter;^[9] Tsuda took part with his own short film, "GET SET GO," which cast actors Ryou Ryuusei and Shunsuke Daitou.^[8] As the film's director and screenwriter, Tsuda also made an appearance in the film as an actor.^[10] (On January 13, 2021, distribution of these five films began.)^[11]

In the same year, he made a cameo appearance in the morning drama "Yell" which became a hot topic.^[12] Since then, he has achieved success not only as a voice actor but also as an actor, appearing in works such as "Dearest" (2021), "Ōoku" (2023) and "Reversal Orchestra" (2023).^[13] In 2023, his photo book recorded second place. It is unusual for a photo book of a voice actor over 50 years old.^[14]

Private life

Tsuda married a woman he encountered around when he was starting out as a stage actor (she is not a celebrity, as Tsuda mentioned it in his Instagram announcement^[15]) and has two children. By not officially announcing his marriage, Tsuda thought, he could protect his family's safety; another reason for this approach is the large appeal that Tsuda's favorite actors have carried as figures who have not displayed their private lives — he, too, had thoughts of wanting to become an expressive person like that, so he hadn't made his getting married public. However, in July 2020, he received notice that a news story about his marriage had been published in one section of a weekly magazine (Shūkanshi) and decided to bring these facts to light via his Instagram.^[16]

Filmography

Boldface indicates main characters.

Animated television series