Shinobu Otake (大竹 しのぶ, Ōtake Shinobu, born 17 July 1957) is a Japanese actress. She has won three Japanese Academy Awards: the 2000 Best Actress award for Poppoya, and the 1979 awards for both Best Actress (Jiken) and Best Supporting Actress (Seishoku no ishibumi). She also won the award for best actress at the 12th Hochi Film Award for Eien no 1/2. At the 25th Moscow International Film Festival she won the award for Best Actress for her role in Owl. She has received a total of 12 nominations.

She was the favoured lead actress of director Kaneto Shindo after his previous lead actress, Nobuko Otowa, died in 1994, and featured in several of his films from A Last Note in 1995 to Postcard in 2011.

Otake has also acted on the stage.

Biography

Otake was born and grew up mostly in Tokyo. In 1982 she married Seiji Hattori, a Tokyo Broadcasting director who died in 1987. One year later, Otake married Akashiya Sanma, but got divorced in 1992. In the early 1990s Otake lived with playwright Hideki Noda.

Otake has two children, Nichika, a son by Hattori and Imaru, a daughter by Sanma. After her divorce she kept custody.

Best films