Kaoru Kobayashi

Born in Kyoto on September 4, 1951, Kaoru Kobayashi is a Japanese actor with 127 credits. His filmography stretches from The Funeral (1984), where he took on the role of Inose, to dramas like The Great Passage (2013), playing Kohei Araki, and The Miracles of the Namiya General Store (2017), playing Takeo Matsuoka. He is best known as the Master of Midnight Diner, appearing in the 2009 series, the 2014 movie and the 2016 follow-up series Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories.

Apart from on-screen roles, Kobayashi has done voice work in animated films such as Princess Mononoke (1997), as Jikobo, and Tales from Earthsea (2006), as The King. He also appeared in Kamui (2009) as Hanbei and We Made a Beautiful Bouquet (2021) as Hirotaro Yamane. His latest listed projects are from 2023: he voiced the Noble Pelican in The Boy and the Heron and played Furuya in the series THE DAYS.

TV series

• THE DAYS (2023) · as Furuya

Where to watch their movies

• Netflix: Princess Mononoke

Platforms listed for our film pages in your country (source: JustWatch via TMDB).

Frequent co-stars

• Yuko Tanaka · 3 films together: Princess Mononoke, Tales from Earthsea, Midnight Diner
• Ko Shibasaki · 3 films together: The Boy and the Heron, Dr. Coto's Clinic, Sham
• Yuriko Ishida · 3 films together: Princess Mononoke, Love and Action in Osaka, Secret
• Hidetaka Yoshioka · 2 films together: Dr. Coto's Clinic, Fueled: The Man They Called "Pirate"
• Kyoko Fukada · 2 films together: Ten Dark Women, Like Asura
• Masaki Suda · 2 films together: The Boy and the Heron, We Made a Beautiful Bouquet

Career at a glance

First credit: The Sea of Genkai (1976) · Credits: 127

Roles played

Titles reviewed on Drama4U

• THE DAYS2023 · FuruyaReviewed

Other work

• 深夜食堂 62026 · Master
• 1972 Fireflies on the Shore2025 · Taiei Tamashiro
• The Last Blossom2025 · Akutsu (1986) (voice)
• 憶えのない殺人2025 · 佐治英雄
• Sham2025
• Oboe no Nai Satsujin2025
• Shrink: Psychiatrist Yowai2024 · Tsuruichi Senkawa
• Promised Land2024
• The Yin Yang Master Zero2024 · Fujiwara Yosuke
• The Tiger and Her Wings2024 · Hodaka Shigechika
• Kubi2023 · Tokugawa Ieyasu
• Tsugaru Lacquer Girl2023
• Worry Not, She's the Boss2023 · Yamagami Tatsuo
• The Boy and the Heron2023 · Noble Pelican (voice)
• Fixer2023 · Ichiro Suzaki
• Baian the Assassin, M.D.: Part 22023
• Trapped Balloon2023 · Shigezo Kojima
• Dr. Coto's Clinic2022 · Shoichi Hoshino
• Yes, I Can't Swim2022 · Professor Kamoshita

and 47 more

Images: TMDB · Posters belong to their respective copyright holders and are shown only to identify the work and for review purposes

Profile based on TMDB and Wikidata facts and checked against public sources. Career information only.