‘Awards Chatter’ Pod: Anna Sawai, Breakout Star of ‘Shogun,’ on Lady Mariko, ‘F9’ Family and J-Pop Days

Anna Sawai is still processing the degree to which her life has changed because of Shōgun, the smash-hit FX show on which she plays Lady Mariko, and as a result of which she has become an Emmy frontrunner (for best actress in a limited or anthology series or a TV movie) and is rapidly making her way towards Hollywood’s A-list.

The New Zealand-born Japanese actress, 31, said as much last week when she recorded an episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast in front of an audience of film students at Chapman University, some 24 hours after Shōgun’s series finale — or perhaps season finale, given industry chatter that there may be additional episodes, something that Sawai finds exciting.

People who have not yet have caught up to Shōgun might still recognize Sawai from one of her wide variety of past projects. Between 2013 and 2018 she was a member of the popular J-Pop girl group FAKY. In 2021, she gained her first worldwide exposure in the F9 installment of the Fast and Furious franchise. And in 2022 she showed her dramatic shops on the Apple TV+ series Pachinko. She discusses all of these experiences on the pod.

But most people will want to know — and by listening to the pod will learn directly from her — about how she landed the part of Lady Mariko, a young woman from a disgraced family who is called upon to serve as a translator between her Japanese lord and an Englishman who shows up on their shores; the massive amount of prep that the role required; what it was like working with her two principal costars, Hiroyuki Sanada and Cosmo Jarvis; plus much more!

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