who is Sakura Ando?

Sakura Ando

Sakura Ando (安藤 サクラ, Andō Sakura, born February 18, 1986) is a Japanese actress. She is best known for appearing in critically-acclaimed films such as Sion Sono's Love Exposure, Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters (2018) and Monster (2023), as well as Takashi Yamazaki's Academy Award–winning kaiju epic Godzilla Minus One (2023).

Career

Ando won the award for Best Supporting Actress at the 31st Yokohama Film Festival 2010 for Love Exposure, The Wonderful World of Captain Kuhio and Tsumitoka batsutoka.[clarification needed] She was also nominated for the award for best supporting actress at 4th Asian Film Awards 2010 for A Crowd of Three.

She appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2012 television drama Penance.

She has also appeared in films such as The Samurai That Night, Our Homeland, and Petal Dance.

In 2015, Ando received the CUT ABOVE Award for Outstanding Performance in Film at JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film in New York.

In 2018, Ando received high praise for her performance as Nobuyo Shibata in director Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters, being called "fantastic" and "the stand-out", with film critic Simon Abrams stating that "Kore-eda gave Andô her character's (strictly metaphorical) dance steps, but she realizes and owns every maneuver she was asked to (and then some).... No small feat... given how subtly complicated her dance steps are."