Yugo Saso Biography

Yugo Saso was born in Shiga, Japan. Following high school, he moved to Vancouver, Canada. For six years he studied acting at Gastown Actor's Studio. In addition to his studies, he was very active in local theatre productions. Then he moved to Taiwan where he lived for about a year and a half and had an opportunity to learn Chinese language.After returning to Japan, he was cast in Argyll Film Partners feature film 'To End All Wars'. For the next four years, he worked with former Imperial Army Translator Takashi Nagase who is the model of Yugo's role in 'To End All Wars' and traveled around Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea for the memorial services and the remains of the War dead searches and participated in peace activities to feel the real post-war issues.A native Japanese speaker, he also speaks English fluently and converses easily in Chinese. His credits include as a producer for an independent feature film 'Moon Overflowing' which won the Grand Prix for Digital Video at 5th Deauville Asian Film Festival in France.Yugo auditioned for a film 'United Red Army' directed by Koji Wakamatsu and played Koichi Teraoka who was executed during Asama-Sanso Incident. The film received both NETPAC and CICAE Awards at 58th Berlin International Film Festival.He recently appears on a short film 'jitensha' directed by Dean Yamada. 'jitensha' is the second collaborative effort between Biola University of Los Angeles, California and Studio RE: of Tokyo Japan. Like its predecessor, 'Mujo No Kaze', it was shot on location in Japan with an entirely Japanese cast. The crew is mostly comprised of Biola students under the direction of Dean Yamada. 'jitensha' was invited to the 66th Venice International Film Festival of Corto Cortissimo (International Short Film Competition).