On Monday 7th December, the Bloxham School Careers Department was delighted to welcome Japanese actor Togo Igawa to host the latest Careers Breakfast Club
Thank you to Sixth Former Andrew White for his report on this morning’s Careers Breakfast Club, led by Japanese actor Togo Igawa.
During this morning’s Breakfast Club, actor Togo Igawa joined us to share his experiences of going from being the son of two working parents to being involved in some of Hollywood’s biggest films, alongside the likes of Tom Cruise and Rowan Atkinson.
Born and raised in Japan, Togo told us how he had always wanted to act, however, the opportunity was not available at primary school. On joining secondary school, drama was offered to students ad he jumped at the chance to take part. On leaving school, Togo decided that he wanted to become an actor. He went to a drama school in Japan (unknown to his parents) and then joined a travelling theatre where he was paid ‘2.50 per performance. Whilst travelling he met his future wife, at which point he followed her back to England. Once in England, Togo was persuaded to continue acting. He went to an ‘Oriental’ audition at the RSC through which he was accepted and became the first Japanese actor to be a part of the RSC. From there he got an agent and progressively built up a resumé of acting experience. He has recently finished working on ‘Le Confessioni’, which is now in post-production and set for release next year.
Togo’s story was very interesting and demonstrated to me how someone from a family with no links to films or showbusiness can still have a successful career in acting and make it into high-budget films. His talk was well received by everyone and has inspired a group of people to look at progressing their acting. Togo was very jolly and always had a smile on his face – I for one would love to meet him again and, on behalf of everyone who attended this morning’s session, thank him for talking to us.
Thanks to Third Form’s James Barker for sharing his own thoughts on this morning’s Careers Breakfast Club with Togo Igawa:
This morning there was a Careers Breakfast which I attended. We heard from famous actor Togo Igawa, who has been in many major films, such as Johnny English Reborn and The Last Samurai.
He spoke to us about his history and how he came to be the well-known actor that he is today. He had many interesting stories to share with the group. Togo started off in Japan as a travelling actor with a group called The Black Tents, before his acting brought him to England, where he was the first Japanese actor to perform in the RSC in Stratford. He then explained how his life on the stage opened up opportunities to appear on the TV and in films.’
What I learned from today’s Careers Breakfast is that if you are shown an opportunity you should take it with both hands – just like Togo!