| Noémie Nakai | |
| Native Name: | 中井 ノエミ |
| Birth Name: | Noémie Nakai |
| Birth Date: | 2 December 1990 |
| Birth Place: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Education: | Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Keio University, University of Nottingham |
| Years Active: | 2013–present |
| Nationality: | French and Japanese |
, is a French-Japanese actress, director and former model.
Noémie Nakai was born on December 2, 1990, in Tokyo, Japan. She has a French mother and a Japanese father.[1] She took acting lessons when she was very young in France, and arrived by chance in modeling by shooting for advertisements in order to follow her friends. In 2013, she got her first real acting role in the drama Shûden Bye Bye.[2] Nakai is a graduate of the Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France and Keio University in Japan. She also studied at the University of Nottingham in England.
On the eve of her thirties, she won the Busan Award in October 2019 as a director in the Asian Project Market section (co-production platform allowing emerging directors to meet market professionals on an international level) of the Busan International Film Festival for the Topography of Solitude project.[3]
Her short film Tears Teacher spotted at the Hot Docs Festival was acquired by the Op Docs section of The New York Times.[4] [5] This ten-minute documentary is dedicated to Hidefumi Yoshida, a teacher who has been a tear therapy practitioner since 2015, who organizes meetings where men and women cry bitterly and anonymously write down painful episodes of their lives. “Emotional outbursts” are frowned upon in Japan. Tears Teacher was selected in the short documentary category of the 2021 Sundance Festival available for streaming on the New York Times website.[6]
In 2022, Noémie Nakai played Luna in Tokyo Vice, a television series for HBO Max directed by Michael Mann.
In 2018, Nakai moved to London to pursue director opportunities and splits her time between England and Japan.[7]
Noémie Nakai starred in a dozen films and TV series.[8]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equals | Uncredited | ||
| 2015 | Sayonara | French android | ||
| 2016 | Tanaka's stomach | Kumi Adegawa | Short film | |
| 2016 | The Reading Forest | The Organist | Short film | |
| 2016 | High&Low The Red Rain | Furuno | ||
| 2016 | J | |||
| 2017 | Radiance | a model | ||
| 2017 | Red Sash: The Tomioka Silk Mill Story | Emilie Brunat | ||
| 2017 | High&Low The Movie 2 / End of Sky | Furuno | ||
| 2017 | The Last Dream | Short film | ||
| 2021 | Army of Thieves | Beatrix | ||
| 2022 | Sitting Pretty | Chloe | Short film |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Shûden Bye Bye | Sophie (French tourist) | 1 episode | |
| 2014 - 2015 | Christine Robbins | 8 episodes | ||
| 2015 | The Emperor's Cook | Simone | 2 episodes | |
| 2016 | Kasôken no onna: New Year Special | Elisa Dubois | TV movie | |
| Never Let Me Go | Manami | 6 episodes | ||
| J | 1 episode | |||
| 2022 | Tokyo Vice | Luna | 7 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Grid | Additional voice-over cast | Voice role | |
| 2022 | Grid Legends | Drift Announcer | Voice role |