Masao Kusakari ( 草刈 正雄 , Kusakari Masao , born September 5, 1952 in Yukuhashi, Fukuoka ) is a Japanese actor and model .
5-399: Pro Hunter ( プロハンター ) was a Japanese comedy-action police TV series. It starred regulars Masao Kusakari , Tatsuya Fuji , Joe Shishido , Mayumi Ogawa , with Kyohei Shibata as a semi-regular. It ran for 25 episodes in 1981 and won popularity. Yoichi Sai made his debut as a director in the episode 15. Former detective Jun Mizuhara and former Journalist Shunsuke Ryuzaki set up office as
10-510: A newspaper delivery boy. He started his career as a fashion model in Fukuoka when he was a high school student. Considered stunningly good looking, Masao was scouted at age 17 by a model agency in Tokyo, where his debut into the public eye began when he became a model for Shiseido Cosmetics in the early 1970's. He joined Toho in 1974 and began his career as a screen actor. He won his first major award at
15-555: A private detective agency " M&R Tantesha" in Yokohama . Their cases are always dangerous but not profitable. Masao Kusakari Masao Kusakari was born in Fukuoka Prefecture to a Japanese mother Sueko from Yukuhashi , and an American father Robert H. Tolar from Tar Heel , North Carolina , a USAF mailman who was deployed to Tsuiki Base during Korean War . Masao was told by Sueko (who died in 2010) that Robert had died in
20-639: The Elan d'or Awards in 1975, and a year later, appeared in Kaze to Kumo to Niji to , a dream of his since early childhood to star in a taiga drama . From then to the early 1980's, Kusakari was one of the most popular actors in Japan. He won popularity again through his role in Sanada Maru in 2016. In 2017, Kusakari won Best Supporting Actor of 10th Tokyo Drama Awards for his role in Sanada Maru . In 2019, Kusakari appeared in
25-791: The Korean War, and he believed so, until NHK show " Family History " discovered that Robert had left Japan to move back to the US before Masao was born, then deployed to West Germany for several years as a military personnel, and later settled back in North Carolina where he died in 2013. After Masao was born, Sueko left her hometown of Yukuhashi, where there were strong prejudices against children with mixed races, then settled in Kokura (Current Kitakyushu ) where she worked for multiple jobs to raise Masao. Masao also started working as early as elementary school age as
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