Masachika Ichimura

is a Japanese actor. He was born in Kawagoe, Saitama and studied at the Theater Art College in Tokyo after graduating high school. He has also done voice acting work, with some of his roles being Mewtwo from the Pokémon franchise and Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Career In 1973, he made his debut as an actor with Jesus Christ Superstar and, since then, became one of the top actors of Shiki Theatre Company. He appeared in various musical plays, such as West Side Story, Equus, Cats, Evita, and The Phantom of the Opera, and played the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

In 1990, he left the company and signed up for Horipro. In February 2001, he reprised the role of Mewtwo in Super Smash Bros. Melee. In 2013, he played the role of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Anjin: The Shogun and The English Samurai in London.

In 2014, he cancelled his performance in Miss Saigon because of initial stomach cancer; in November of the same year, he finished treatment and returned to the theatre industry.

As of 2022, Ichimura was the longest running performer to play The Engineer in Miss Saigon, playing the role for 30 years from 1992 until 2022. In 2022, Ichimura also reached over 900 performances playing The Engineer in the Japanese production of Miss Saigon.

Filmography

Films The Hotel Venus (2004) - Venus Thirteen Assassins (2010) - Kitō Hanbei A Ghost of a Chance (2011) - Tsukutsuku Abe The Floating Castle (2012) - Toyotomi Hideyoshi For Love's Sake (2012) - Shōgo Saotome Thermae Romae (2012) - Hadrian Thermae Romae II (2014) - Hadrian The Kodai Family (2016) - Shigemasa Kōdai Jr. The Stand-In Thief (2017) Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai (2021) - Honda Kakuan And So the Baton Is Passed (2021) Daughter of Lupin the Movie (2021) Bushido (2024) - Chōbei A Conviction of Marriage (2024) - Kannami A Light in the Harbor (2025) - Tomoyuki Tanabe New Interpretation of the End of Edo Period (2025) - Jiro Koishikawa, the storyteller

Television dramas Shishi no Jidai (1980) - Okonogi Kyōhei Furuhata Ninzaburō (1999) - Nao Kuroikawa HR (2002) - Masachika Jin'no Mayonaka no Andersen (2002) Suna no Utsuwa (2004) - Yuzuru Asō Order Made (2004) My Boss My Hero (2006) - Kichi Sakaki Bambino! (2007) - Tekkan Shishido Hatachi no Koibito (2007) - Fūta Suzuki Gō (2011) - Akechi Mitsuhide Young Black Jack (2011) - Dr. Jotaro Honma Beppinsan (2016) - Shigeo Asada Ieyasu, Edo wo Tateru (2019) - Tokugawa Ieyasu Everyone's Demoted (2019) - Hideki Fujita Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon (2019) - Nicholas Tange Nakamura Nakazo: Shusse no Kizahashi (2021) - Ichikawa Danjūrō IV

Musicals Jesus Christ Superstar - King Herod West Side Story - Bernardo Equus - Alan A Chorus Line - Paul Carousel - Jigger Craigin She Loves Me - Georg Nowack Cats - Rum Tum Tugger The Phantom of the Opera - Erik, The Phantom of the Opera Tanz der Vampire - Professor Abronsius Miss Saigon - The Engineer Candide - Dr. Pangloss/the narrator Voltaire Two Gentlemen of Verona - Thurio Fiddler on the Roof - Tevye You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Snoopy Evita - Che Never on Sunday - Ilya Kiss of the Spider Woman - Molina Cyrano: The Musical - Cyrano de Bergerac Scrooge - Scrooge Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Freddy Benson Sweeney Todd - Sweeney Todd La Cage aux Folles - Albin/Zaza Love Never Dies - Erik, the Phantom of the Opera Oliver - Fagin Mozart! - Leopold

Plays The Merchant of Venice - Shylock Anjin: The Shogun and The English Samurai - Tokugawa Ieyasu Yukio Ninagawa's Macbeth - Macbeth

Theatrical animation Jack and the Beanstalk (1974) - Jack A Journey Through Fairyland (1985) - Michael Pokémon: The First Movie (1998) - Mewtwo Giovanni's Island (2014) - Tatsuo Senō Doraemon: Nobita's Space Heroes (2015) - Ikaros Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution (2019) - Mewtwo Birthday Wonderland (2019) - Hippocrates Scarlet (2025) - Amlet

Television animation Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns (2000) - Mewtwo Pocket Monsters (2020) - Mewtwo

Original video animation (OVA) Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005) - Red XIII

Video games Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) - Mewtwo Kingdom Hearts (2002) - Jack Skellington Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004) - Jack Skellington Kingdom Hearts II (2005) - Jack Skellington Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (2011) - Bronev Reinel One Piece: Unlimited World Red (2013) - Patrick Redfield Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (2013) - Bronev Reinel Nioh (2017) - Tokugawa Ieyasu

Dubbing The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - Jack Skellington Strings (2004) - Kahro The Man Who Invented Christmas (2018) - Ebenezer Scrooge Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) - Wild Knuckles The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) - Helm Hammerhand

Puppetry Sherlock Holmes (2014) - Jonathan Small

Honors Medal with Purple Ribbon (2007) Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2019)