Akiko Wakabayashi

About Akiko Wakabayashi

Who is it?: Actress
Birth Day: December 13, 1939
Birth Place:  Tokyo, Japan, Japan
Birth Sign: Virgo
Native name: 若林 映子
Occupation: Actress
Years active: 1958–1971
Known for: You Only Live Twice as Bond girl Aki

Akiko Wakabayashi Net Worth

Akiko Wakabayashi was born on December 13, 1939 in  Tokyo, Japan, Japan, is Actress. Akiko Wakabayashi was born on August 26, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan. During her work in movies, she became one of Japan's most popular actresses of their cinema's "Golden Age", ranking with actresses Kumi Mizuno and Mie Hama. One of her first films was Akiko (1961), which was named after her. Interestingly, the movie title shares both her real and character names. Her career took off when she came to Toho Studios, appearing in a host of sci-fi films, including that of the sexy gangster moll in Uchû daikaijû Dogora (1964) and the bewitching alien-possessed princess in San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen (1964). However, in the Western Cinema, she is probably best-known for her role as Bond girl "Aki" in the 007 epic, You Only Live Twice (1967), appearing alongside actor Sean Connery. When production of the 007 film began, Wakabayashi was originally chosen to play Bond girl "Kissy Suzuki" and her co-star, Mie Hama, is to play Bond girl "Suki". As Hama had a difficult time mastering the English language, the two actresses switched roles. In addition, Wakabayashi suggested her character name be Aki instead of Suki.In the late 1960s to early 1970s, Japan's movie industry experienced an economic slump, which resulted in severe budget cuts. During that time, Wakabayashi made a rather abrupt end to her acting career, and has never been seen on the big screen since. Whether or not the economic slump played a factor, Wakabayashi remains one of the most memorable actresses of Japan, especially to Toho Studios' sci-fi fandom.
Akiko Wakabayashi is a member of Actress

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Some Akiko Wakabayashi images

Biography/Timeline

1962

When production of You Only Live Twice began, Wakabayashi was originally slated to play the role of Kissy Suzuki whilst her co-star Mie Hama played Suki, one of Tiger Tanaka's top agents. When learning English proved to be a major hurdle to Hama, the women switched roles, with Hama now playing the smaller part of Kissy and Wakabayashi playing the larger part of Suki. At her suggestion, the character of Suki was renamed Aki. They had previously acted together in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (1965).

1967

She is best known in English-speaking countries for her role as Bond girl Aki in the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. Before this, she had made many movies in her native Japan, especially Toho Studio's Monster movies, such as Dagora, the Space Monster (1964) and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), both of which were also released under various other titles. In Gidorah, she played a mystical Princess, who could predict the Future and was also a prophetess.

1971

In 1971 she made an appearance in an episode of Shirley's World. Wakabayashi made only one more film (and a guest TV appearance) before disappearing from both the big and small screen. In an interview in G-FAN magazine (No. 76), Wakabayashi said she retired from acting owing to injuries sustained while making a movie.