Ryo Ishibashi

Best known for delivering a series of persuasive and effective performances in supporting roles, distinguished Japanese actor Ryo Ishibashi graced the screen from the early '90s. Ishibashi often -- though not always -- appeared in action and horror fare; only a fraction of his films traveled abroad. Select features include Takashi Miike's twisted, horrific "romance" Audition (1999); Masahiro Kobayashi's Koroshi (2000); Brother (2000), by the celebrated "Beat" Takeshi Kitano; and the notorious Suicide Club (2002) -- something of a cult hit abroad, about a bizarre series of mass suicides sweeping Japan. Ishibashi gained renewed attention among Westerners when he traveled to Hollywood and starred in the 2004 remake of the horror blockbuster The Grudge, as well as its 2006 sequel. The movies concern a crazed spirit roaming the Earth that possesses anyone it finds with an uncontrollable rage. In 2007, Ishibashi held fast to the horror genre with a key role in the small-screen hair-raiser Masters of Horror: Dream Cruise, directed by Ishibashi's fellow countryman, Norio Tsuruta. The film concerns a deeply hydrophobic adulterer who visits a watery grave. That same year, Ishibashi also appeared in the Jet Li/Jason Statham action movie War.

~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide