Katsuhiro Otomo Biography

Date of Birth: April 14, 1954

Born in Miyagi, Japan, Katsuhiro Otomo grew up with a passion for American and European comics, and for watching American movies. In 1973 he moved to Tokyo to become a comic book artist, making his debut with "A Gun Report," published in Action magazine. He continued to write for Action, with a regular comic strip and a series of short stories.

A 1977 trip to New York City inspired Otomo to create "Nippon Sayonara," about a Japanese martial arts professor living in Manhattan. In 1979, Otomo made his first foray into science fiction with the serial "Fireball." This was followed by another series, "Domu," which became his first mainstream success.

Otomo eventually turned his sights to film, directing and writing the screenplay for Give Me a Gun Give Me Freedom (1982). He enjoyed much success with Akira (1988), winning a Silver Scream Award at the 1992 Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival for the film which was based on his highly popular comic series of the same name. For Memories (1995), he executive-produced, wrote three segments and directed one segment (Cannon Fodder), and went on to win the Ofuji Noburo Award at the 1995 Mainichi Film Concours.

His most recent film, Steamboy (2005), won Best Animated Feature at the Catalonian International Film Festival.

Filmography:

Steamboy (2005)
Memories (1995) (segment)
World Apartment Horror (1991)
Akira (1988)
Labyrinth Tales (1987) (segment)
Robot Carnival (1987) (2 segments)
Give Me a Gun Give Me Freedom (1982)