Mugi Kadowaki

Mugi Kadowaki gave up classical ballet because she realized she would never become an elite professional. It was a pragmatic decision made in her teens. Rather than insist on a discipline that frustrated her, she decided that Japanese cinema needed faces that did not constantly try to please the camera.

Her entry into the industry in 2011 was anything but glamorous.

The physical risks of 2014

The release of Ai no Uzu in 2014 changed how casting directors saw her. She played a university student in a swingers club. It was a raw role that demanded a physical and emotional exposure few actresses of her generation were willing to take on.

She accepted the challenge without batting an eye.

That same year she appeared in The Light Shines Only There, confirming that her interest lay on the margins of society. She won the Best Breakthrough Actress award at the Blue Ribbon Awards, and her name began circulating in the offices of Tokyo's major studios.

Coldness as a Tool of the Trade

In 2016, she starred in Double Life under the direction of Yoshiyuki Kishi. Her character followed strangers through the streets as part of a philosophical thesis. Kadowaki used her blank gaze to build a tension that needed no explanatory dialogue, because her ability to hold silence became her greatest asset.

And the gamble paid off.

Unlike other young stars who jump into pop or mass advertising, she kept a low profile. But that didn't stop her from joining the cast of the TV series Todome no Kiss in 2018. She played a mysterious woman who killed with a kiss, proving she could fit into commercial productions without losing her aura of strangeness.

For 2021, she led the cast of Aristocrats alongside Kiko Mizuhara. The film dissected social class in contemporary Japan through stillness and rigid manners. Kadowaki brought an almost robotic restraint that exposed the isolation of women in wealthy families in the capital.

In 2023, she shot the film Old Fox in Taiwan under director Hsiao Ya-chuan. Working abroad brought a change of pace to her usual working method. During that period she also headlined the TV drama Reversal Orchestra, playing a prodigy violinist who suffers from stage fright.

The production of The Floor Plan in 2024 earned more than $26 million at the Japanese box office after its March release.