Shirō Sano

Born in Yamanashi Prefecture, Sano lived in Tokyo and Matsue, Shimane as a child, before returning to Tokyo to enter art school. He joined several theatrical troupes, including Jurō Kara's Jōkyō Gekijō. He had his first starring role in a film in Kaizō Hayashi's To Sleep so as to Dream in 1986, but gained fame for playing the character Fuyuhiko in the television drama Zutto Anata ga Suki datta in 1992. He directed his first film, Karaoke, in 1999.