Takako Matsu Profile

The entertainment industry is littered with the offspring of famous entertainers who have tried to be as successful as their famous parents. Most of these children of famous parents tend to have careers that aren't as successful as the careers of their parents. Those famous children who have had careers greater than or equal to their parents are few and far between. In the American entertainment industry, two examples that readily come to mind are actors Michael Douglas and Jeff Bridges, and how they are arguably more famous than their famous fathers, Kirk Douglas and Lloyd Bridges, respectively. Takako Matsu is the rare case in which she has not only emulated the success of her famous kabuki and stage actor father, Koshiro Matsumoto, but in many ways has overshadowed her father's success as well.

Born in Tokyo to a famous kabuki family, Takako Matsu began at an early age to learn all of the skills that are necessary for a successful career in show business: acting, singing, and learning to play the piano. In addition, she earned a license in traditional Japanese dance. [I think I read somewhere that she attended some kind of high school for the performing arts. If this is true, then it makes total sense.]

Her family is a very close knit one consisting of her father, the legendary Koshiro Matsumoto, her mother, Norika, her older brother, Somegoro Ichikawa, an up-and-coming actor of stage, TV, and film in his own right, and her older sister, Kio Matsumoto, who is also a stage actress. In the time-honored kabuki tradition, most of the Matsumoto family members use stage names instead of their real names. Her family's real name is Fujima. For her stage name, Takako's last name is the first kanji character used in Matsumoto. The kanji character for matsu means pine tree in English. In addition, Takako writes her name using the Japanese hiragana syllables for the first four letters of her given name instead of the kanji character for Taka.

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