Naoko Mori 森 尚子
Mori at the 2009San Diego Comic-Con
Born	(1971-11-29)29 November 1971 (age 54) Nagoya,Aichi, Japan
Education	Royal Russell School
Occupations	Actress, singer
Years active	1992–present
Notable work	Absolutely Fabulous Casualty Doctor Who Manchild Torchwood Spiceworld

Naoko Mori (森 尚子,Mori Naoko) (born 29 November 1971) is a Japanese actress based in the United Kingdom. She is known for her roles asToshiko Sato inDoctor Who andTorchwood,Yasuko Namba inEverest, Sarah inAbsolutely Fabulous and Nicola inSpice World.

Naoko Mori was born on 29 November 1971 inNagoya to aRyukyuan mother and aJapanese American father. When Mori was four years old, she moved toNew Jersey due to her father's work. She returned to Japan when she was ten and moved toLondon two years later. When her parents were posted back to Japan, Mori was given the choice of either moving back to Japan with her parents or remaining in London on her own.^[1] She chose to stay in London, partly because she wanted to finish herGCSEs and gain some qualifications.^[1] She attended theRoyal Russell School. Mori's father opened abank account for her, handed her acheque book and told her to find a flat or abedsit for herself to live in. Mori said that being on her own at such a young age helped her to be a very independent person, although it was still a scary world to be faced so young.^[1]

While studying for her A-levels, she auditioned and joined London's West End production of theVietnam War musicalMiss Saigon. She later went on to play Kim and became the first Japanese national to play a lead role in the West End.^[2] From 1993 to 1994, Mori had a regular role on the hospital dramaCasualty as the hospital receptionist Mie Nishikawa. Film roles followed, including appearances in the 1997 musical comedy filmSpice World andTopsy-Turvy (1999). Mori also appeared in the television programmesThief Takers (1997),Judge John Deed (2001),Spooks (2002),Mile High (2003)^[3] andPowers (2004).^[4] In 1995, she had a small role as a Japanese computer hacker in the filmHackers. Mori had a major role in the 2005 BBC docu-dramaHiroshima, which contained dramatic re-enactments of the1945 atomic bombings. Mori also provided thevoice acting for the villainess Mai Hem for the gamePerfect Dark Zero.

In 2005, Mori had a small role as Dr. Sato in theDoctor Who episode "Aliens of London". ProducerRussell T Davies took note of her performance and decided to bring the character back as a regular in the first two series of theDoctor Who spin-offTorchwood.^[5] Mori'sTorchwood character,Toshiko Sato, was killed in "Exit Wounds", the final episode ofTorchwood's second series, but Mori did not rule out the possibility of returning to the show at a later date.^[6] Since her exit from the show, Mori has reprised the character in multipleTorchwood audio dramas byBig Finish Productions, some of them with her as a lead with a guest cast, but some with her as part of the team with the rest of the main cast. She returned to the West End on 20 November 2006, when she took over the role of Christmas Eve fromAnn Harada in the London production ofAvenue Q, a role which she played until 14 April 2007.^[7]Mori portrayedYoko Ono in the BBC Four productionLennon Naked, which was broadcast in the UK on 23 June 2010.^[8] The film reunited her withChristopher Eccleston, who playedJohn Lennon, opposite whom she played Toshiko Sato in herDoctor Who appearance. Before joiningTorchwood, Mori acted as Kim inMiss Saigon alongside future co-starJohn Barrowman as Chris.

Mori appeared in the filmEverest (2015), asYasuko Namba,^[9] oppositeJason Clarke,Josh Brolin,John Hawkes,Jake Gyllenhaal,Robin Wright,Keira Knightley, andSam Worthington.^[10]

In 2018, Mori played Lady Thiang inThe King and I in London.^[11]

She was also the voice of Nagisa Kisaragi in the 2018 version ofFirestorm.^[12]

Mori is aJapanese Buddhist.^[13] She has an elder brother with whom she grew up in New Jersey. At the age of 16 or 17 she moved into a flat on her own in London. This was when her career expanded. She wanted to become a singer before she was an actress.^[14]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNaoko Mori.

• Naoko Mori atIMDb
• Naoko Mori onTwitter
• Digital Spy interview with Naoko Mori, 4 Apr 2008

• Living people
• Actresses from Nagoya
• Japanese Buddhists
• Japanese film actresses
• Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom
• Japanese television actresses
• Japanese video game actresses
• Japanese voice actresses
• 20th-century Japanese actresses
• 21st-century Japanese actresses
• People educated at Royal Russell School
• 1971 births

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