Erika Sawajiri

Erika Sawajiri married the writer-filmmaker, Tsuyoshi Takashiro, on January 20, 2009 at the Meiji Shrine. Their marriage was in the news as she is 20 years younger to Tsuyoshi Takashiro.

In 2013, Erika and Tsuyoshi announced at a press conference that they are officially divorced. Erika Sawajiri later visited Takashiro’s parents to apologize for their failure to continue the relationship.

Erika considers her mother her biggest influence and has often stated that she always consults her before making a big decision. The duo remains very close to each other, often appear together in public conferences.

Erika was born on April 8, 1986 to Yoshikatsu and Lila Sawajiri and is the youngest of the three children of her parents. She was born in the Nerima-ku region in Tokyo. While her father is Japanese, her mother is Algerian.

Her father owned professional racehorses, and Erika often indulged in horseback riding as a child. Her father died of cancer and later one of her brothers die in a traffic accident. These unfortunate incidents ensured the family looked out for each other, and remain closely in touch with each other. Erika’s surviving brother is also an actor.

Erika Sawajiri began her career by successfully passing the Stardust audition after completing her elementary schooling in 1999. She went on to become a part of ‘Angel Eyes’ and started working as a model for teen magazines such as ‘Cutie’ and ‘Nicola’. She also briefly worked as a bikini model.

Eventually, she began to gain attention through different variety shows and started appearing as a regular on the news program, ‘Harajuku Launchers’, in 2001.

In 2002, she made her movie debut in a film titled ‘Mondai no nai Watashitachi’. Alongside films, she continued working in television, including Fuji TV’s ‘Visual Queens’, NTV’s ‘The Yoru Mo Hit Parade’, CX News’s ‘Chou VIP Fortune no Tobira’, and CBC’s show ‘Bijou Dokyuu’.

She received her first break in the main role when she was cast in the TBS drama ‘Hotman’ in 2003. This served as her launchpad into mainstream television.

2005 proved to be the most crucial year in Sawajiri’s career as her first hit movie ‘Pacchigi!’ was released. Other notable movies from this year include ‘Shinobi’ and ‘Ashura-jô no hitomi’, both of which received critical acclaim.

Erika’s most notable performance is as Liliko in her comeback film ‘Helter Skelter’ in 2012. The live action movie was an adaptation of Kyoko Okazaki’s psychological horror manga directed by Mika Ninagawa.