Anna Sawai’s Ascent: From Shogun to Breakthrough Star in the Wake of Oscars So White

The television drama series SHOGUN, starring and produced by Hiroyuki Sanada, has become a record-breaking hit, achieving awards in 18 categories at the Emmys, almost sweeping the event.

Anna Sawai, who won the award for Best Actress, was also selected for TIME magazine’s list of the “100 Next Generation Leaders” announced on October 2, gaining recognition as an actress now in the global spotlight.

The drama is based on a novel by British author James Clavell, inspired by the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu, featuring Yoshi Toranaga (Sanada) as the protagonist. It was previously adapted into a drama in 1980, starring Toshiro Mifune.

With the success of the drama, the heroine is also gaining attention.

 

In the past, she was a member of Avex’s dance vocal unit.

What kind of career does Anna Sawai, who appeared like a comet, have? Let’s unravel her Cinderella story.

“Anna was born in 1992 in New Zealand as a Japanese national. She moved to Japan at the age of 10. In 2004, she made her entertainment debut by being cast as the lead in the musical Annie. In 2006, she passed the Avex Audition 2006 and joined Avex. By 2013, she was active as the leader of the five-member female dance vocal group FAKY. However, with a strong desire to become an actress, she signed with a major agency in the United States. Utilizing her native-level English skills, she appeared in the popular action film F9: The Fast Saga in 2021. In 2023, she played the lead in the Apple TV+ drama series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which features Godzilla, steadily building her career as an international actress,” said a source from a variety show.

However, Anna did not easily pass the audition for SHOGUN.

“Initially, she was only given a brief plot for the audition and felt hesitant about performing the scene where the heroine, Mariko, removes her kimono to take a bath. Because of this, she was rejected at first. However, after having a conversation with the producer, she learned that Mariko is not portrayed as a stereotypical Japanese character—sexy, submissive, or action-oriented—often seen in overseas productions. This motivated her to try again. She cleared three rounds of auditions and successfully secured the role of Mariko,” said a producer from the production company.

The character Mariko, played by Anna, is inspired by Hosokawa Gracia. As the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide, she carries the heavy fate of being the daughter of a rebel, which makes her role quite challenging. Anna has confessed that she faced mental struggles during filming as she continuously confronted the character’s emotions and essence.

However, there were aspects of her mindset that resonated with Mariko’s own feelings.

 

 

“It seems that, due to the difficulty of the role, there were times when she felt she wasn’t doing enough and lost confidence. However, this uncertainty and the desire to not want to live aligned with Mariko’s emotions, allowing her to honestly portray the character. She has openly admitted this,” said the aforementioned producer.

Through her struggles, Anna Sawai’s efforts have paid off as she won the Emmy Award for Best Actress and is now climbing the ladder toward becoming a Hollywood star. However, her success is not only attributed to the charm of the work and her acting skills but also to the changing landscape of the entertainment industry in American society, which has acted as a tailwind for her career.

Black filmmaker Spike Lee boycotts the awards ceremony.

“In the early 2010s, there was a notion that films wouldn’t succeed unless directed by white filmmakers. However, after white actors dominated the acting categories at the Academy Awards for two consecutive years in 2016, renowned Black filmmaker Spike Lee boycotted the ceremony. This led to the rise of the “#Oscar So White” movement, which called for greater diversity in Hollywood. As a result, in 2020, Bong Joon-ho, a South Korean director, won the Academy Award for Best Picture with “Parasite”, the first non-English language film to achieve this. Such changes have also acted as a tailwind for “SHOGUN”, propelling Anna Sawai into the spotlight,” said a director from the production company.

Furthermore, the global pandemic during the COVID-19 crisis created a stay-at-home demand, leading to a rise in viewers wanting to enjoy films and streaming dramas in audio form, similar to the hit “Squid Game”. This increase in viewers has also popularized watching with subtitles, contributing to the appeal of “SHOGUN”, where Japanese characters speak in Japanese.

Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that Mariko will have opportunities to appear in the second or third seasons of SHOGUN. However, Anna is already receiving numerous offers for film and drama roles.

We hope to see her take on new characters that break away from the image of Mariko in her next projects.