Yoko Narahashi is a producer, award-winning director, casting director and lyricist based in Los Angeles and Tokyo. The daughter of a Japanese diplomat to International Civil Aviation Organization of the United Nations, Yoko grew up in Montreal and Ottawa receiving her formal education in Canada. Graduating from International Christian University in Tokyo, she then trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse under Sanford Meisner in New York. Among the plays and musicals she has directed are "Hair," "The Magic Monkey" and the award winning "The Winds of God" which performed at the Lee Strasberg Institute, the Actors Studio and the United Nations, in New York, as well as in Los Angeles, Australia and New Zealand. The Winds of God also marked Narahashi's feature film directorial debut in 1995 and won her the Japan Film Critics Award for Best New Director. Narahashi has been a casting director for Hollywood feature film productions since she worked with Director and Producer Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun in 1987. Her Hollywood casting credits include Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken", Carl Rinsch's "47 Ronin", James Mangold's "The Wolverine", Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel", Rob Marshall's "Memoirs of a Geisha", and Edward Zwick's "The Last Samurai". She was also Associate Producer for The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, and more recently, was Producer for the 2013 World War II film Emperor, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox. Lyricist for Godiego, a popular rock group, among others.
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Biography from IMDb.
- June 17, 1947 (79)
- Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan
- Actor and producer
- 16 on MovieCove · 23 credits in all
What are Yōko Narahashi's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Morality.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
Light 2 · Serious 2 · Dark 0
A split, not a type: Grounded 3 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 1
Gentle 1 · Charged 2 · Intense 1
Steady 2 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
A split, not a type: Easy watch 1 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 2
Resolved 4 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Roles they play
- Shapeshifteras Miko in Touch (2024)
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Yōko Narahashi's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 10 of their 16 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Yōko Narahashi's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
23 credits, 16 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
Her Private Hell(2026)
Midcredits score: 8th percentile of all films
Yoroï(2025)
Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all films
The Ghost Writer's Wife (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
Sunny(2024)
Midcredits score: 39th percentile of all shows
Touch(2024)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
The Beautiful Game(2024)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all shows
Minamata(2020)
Midcredits score: 90th percentile of all films
Earthquake Bird(2019)
Midcredits score: 41st percentile of all films
Giri/Haji(2019)
Midcredits score: 83rd percentile of all shows
Hold My Hand (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)
The Wolverine(2013)
Midcredits score: 66th percentile of all films
Emperor(2012)
Midcredits score: 57th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 42nd percentile of all films
The Ramen Girl(2008)
Midcredits score: 56th percentile of all films
American Pastime (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Moyuru Toki: The Excellent Company (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
Memoirs of a Geisha(2005)
Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all films
The Last Samurai(2003)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films
The Goddess of 1967(2000)
Midcredits score: 73rd percentile of all films
Memory & Desire (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Winds of God (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1995)
Cipher (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1989)
Career shape
A full career of 23 titles from 1989 to 2026.
Film career
- 2005Screen debut· Memoirs of a Geisha
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Yōko Narahashi's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 57th percentile, the median of all 13; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 73rd percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th6
- 25th to 49th4
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
8 of their 16 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved3
- Crowd Pleaser8
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the acting 75/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles; fans 82, detractors 50. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Yōko Narahashi's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 3 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does Yōko Narahashi work with?
People who share at least 2 of Yōko Narahashi's MovieCove titles; Toshiyuki Nishida shares the most, 2.
- Toshiyuki NishidaShared titles: Emperor (2012), The Ramen Girl (2008)See all 2 shared titles with Toshiyuki Nishida
