PROFILE !!! 

Mention Nanako Matsushima and the words "beautiful" and "elegant" comes to mind. Not only good looking, she is one of the hottest female lead actresses around and her beau is Takashi Sorimachi whom she co-starred in GTO. Many beautiful young actresses get their start as a 'campaign girl', or swimwear poster girl for a Japanese corporation. In this case of Matsushima, an 18-year old aspiring model, the company was Asahi Kasei - a pharmeceuticals company with no relation to swimwear whatsoever. A year later, in 1993, she got the more visible 'image girl' job with Asahi Beer. Another couple of years of slogging saw her make her TV debut in a forgettable TV drama. Her break came when she auditioned for and got the lead in the 1996 NHK morning drama series Himawari (Sunflower). Unlike the commercial TV stations, NHK has the reputation in Japan of producing 'quality' programs and successful exposure there often brings the prestige of being a 'real' actor.

The following year saw the job offers come flooding in. Suddenly Matsushima was everywhere, appearing in TV dramas, commercials and movies. She starred in the 1996 TV horror series Ringu (The Ring) which became a hugely popular movie a couple of years later. In 2000, she co-starred in the big action movie of the year, White Out alongside Oda Yuji. She also carried a major three-part, end-of-the-century series entitled Hyakunen no Monogatari (100-year Story) in which she played three different, but related, heroines over three generations. Her popularity is widespread and she regularly tops such polls as 'best jeanist' or 'favorite female star'. In February 2001, she hit the headlines again when she married the popular actor Sorimachi Takashi. The two starred together in the TV drama series GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka a couple of years earlier. She has proven herself to be talented, being able to grasp with different types of roles, be it comical, classy or icy. Our dear lady is also queen of CM, having endorsed many types of products in advertisements. With her beauty and talents, Nanako is fast catching up with established actresses like Miho Nakayama and Takako Tokiwa.