Seizo Fukumoto's work as an actor is relegated mostly to roles of death and dismemberment. Indeed, he is known as a "kirareyaku," the Japanese term for "sliced up actor." Seizo mainly plays the bodies, or the guy about to be killed, usually in action movies. In fact, you could say he's died over 20,000 times. He's been sliced and diced by Samurais, gunned down by gangsters, and done in a variety of other fashions. When a director needs the star of their action film to kill some bad guy, in Japan at least, Seizo is the man to who they call. Seizo is truly a man who knows how to die in style, a testament to his dedication to the craft.
Seizo was born on February 3, 1943 in the Hyogo prefecture in Japan. He was the third son born to his parents, one of six children total in the family.
Seizo was not long for school, as he quit after junior high. Deciding the rice business just wasn't for him, he left his inherited occupation for greater things. In 1959 he discovered Toei Movie Company's Kyoto Film Studio. By becoming a stuntman he put himself on the path to the motion picture mayhem that awaited him. His first film was called Kurama tengu and it did come out in 1959. Hundreds of karate and Samurai action flicks later, his most recent film had him working with celebrated actor Tom Cruise in the 2003 movie The Last Samurai.
With all the movies that Seizo has made, the title of his 2001 book "Dokoka de dareka ga miteitekureru -Nippon'ichi no kirareyaku" ("Someone somewhere watches me - Japan's best kirareyaku.") is notably appropriate, as he is all over the big screen - sometimes quite literally.
Sources: cnn.com, cozalweb.com | 
