KAZUMI'S FIRST ROLE 

 

At the age of 6, Kazumi got her very first role on stage as the Wicked Queen in Snow White in kindergarten. It happened only because her friend did not want to be the Wicked Queen and lured her into playing the part in exchange for some cute stickers.  Going for the stickers has proven to be one of the best decisions she's ever made in her life as that’s when she found the love of her life: being an actress and a story-teller.  Throughout the grade school, she would spend lunch breaks making up stories and acting out with her peers and she would write short stories and graphic novels to share with her friends.  

 

 

INSPIRATION

 

Kazumi fell in love with films when she saw Spielberg’s ET for the first time and began to dream to be an actress in Hollywood at a very young age.  Born and raised in Japan, she thought her dream seemed incredibly challenging and her journey to Hollywood was rather a long one. Wanting to experience all-American lifestyle at first to learn the language and the culture,  she lived in different parts of the country such as Colorado, Idaho, Montana and San Francisco before arriving in Los Angeles.

 

She graduated from the University of Montana with a double Bachelor of Degrees in Acting and Communication Studies, where she appeared on several stage productions.  Upon graduation, she spent the winter snowboarding in the snow country of Idaho. Then she moved back to Japan and joined a theater company, Show Factory in Tokyo where she performed on numerous stage productions while working as an English teacher on the side to save money to head for the land of her dream.

 

HOLLYWOOD

 

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Kazumi attended the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and Theatre of Arts.  Then she continued to hone her skills with teachers such as  Steve Eastin and Carry-Hiroyuki Tagawa (The Man in the High Castle) among others. She also studied improv with Mosaic Comedy (known as Monkey Butler Comedy).  But her most important and influential teacher and mentor by far is the world-renowned director of stage, film, and television Robert Allan Ackerman.  He is a  two-time Golden Globe and five-time Emmy Award nominee and has worked with the world's best actors such as Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon just to name a few.  Mr. Ackerman has been her mentor and collaborator since 2014.   

 

Kazumi has appeared in independent films such as "Soap Girl", "The Honor Student", "Suzannah", "The Floating World", "American Falls" starring with Vincent D’Onofrio and  "Where the Road Meets the Sun" with Eric Mabius from ABC’s show UGLY BETTY and many more.  In addition to films, she landed a major APPLE GET-A-MAC CAMPAIGN with Justin Long and John Hodgeman as a Japanese digital camera.   She also appeared in the British version of the same APPLE campaign with a British comic duo Robert Webb and David Mitchell.  Kazumi also guest starred on the hit show BONES on FOX and co-starred on another hit series HEROES on NBC.  

 

She also worked on films such as "The Bridge", "Destined to Ride" starring Denise Richards, and 'Miss Moto Webisode #2' based on the "Mr. Moto" film series starring Peter Lorre, where she played his great great granddaughter who carries on his legacy.

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Kazumi most recently played a role of Mamasan alongside legendary Al Pacino in a benefit staged reading of David Rabe's The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.  Mr. Pacino reprised the title role of Pavlo Hummel, for which he won a Tony in the original 1977 Broadway production.

 

 

 

 

 

MULTI-DIMENSIONAL STORY-TELLER

 

Out of a desire to be to be a multi-dimensional story-teller, 

Kazumi started writing and producing.  With the theatre company THE GARAGE, she produced and starred in the world-premiere stage production of BLOOD, written and directed Robert Allan Ackerman.

 

 

 

 

Also, two of her feature screenplays are currently in development with her production company Eumaria Entertainment.