Nakamura Shidō II

Mikihiro Ogawa (小川 幹弘 , Ogawa Mikihiro , born 14 September 1972) , better known by the stage name Nakamura Shidō II (二代目 中村 獅童 , Nidaime Nakamura Shidō ) , is a Japanese kabuki and film actor.

Born in Tokyo, the son of kabuki actor Nakamura Shidō I, young Nakamura made his kabuki debut at the age of eight. He took the name Shidō the following year, following his father's retirement. Twenty-one years later, despite being a relative latecomer to the silver screen, the 30-year-old Kabuki actor was in his first film, Ping Pong (2002), in which he portrayed a skin-headed, demonically intense table tennis champion nicknamed Dragon. His film debut won Nakamura a Best Newcomer award at the 2003 Japanese Academy Awards. Since then, Nakamura has starred in a string of high-profile movies as well as TV dramas.

In May 2017, he announced that he will take a hiatus for his lung cancer treatment.

Nakamura came to international attention in 2004 after starring in the highly successful romance film Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu (Be With You) with Yūko Takeuchi, the two stars playing a couple separated by death. The two married after filming was complete, on 10 May 2005, and eventually divorced on 29 February 2008.

In the Hong Kong/China martial arts movie Fearless starring international kung fu star Jet Li, and set in 1910s Imperial China, Nakamura plays a Japanese martial artist who is Jet Li's final opponent. He also starred in Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima.

Nakamura is the voice of Yoshitaka Mine, Chairman of the Hakuho Clan in Yakuza 3 (released in Japan as Like a Dragon 3 (龍が如く3 , "Ryū ga Gotoku 3" ) .