Emi Kuroda

Emi Kuroda (黒田エミ, Kuroda Emi) aka Misuzu Akimoto (秋元美鈴, Akimoto Misuzu) is an AV and pink film actress who was born in Osaka in 1978. She is best known for playing the title role in director Mitsuru Meike's The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai (2003).

Life and career

Emi Kuroda started her AV career in 2000 under the name Misuzu Akimoto. Often playing high school girl roles, she starred in such films as Virtual Sexpot and several volumes of Paradise of Japan which were released by Oriental Dream for the American market and so were "uncensored" unlike the usual Japanese porn videos which use a mosaic pixelation to obscure the genitals. In 2002 she changed her stage name to Emi Kuroda and by 2003 had appeared in more than 200 films.

With no previous theatrical acting experience, Kuroda was chosen to star in director Mitsuru Meike's 2003 pink film, The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai. The film gained a cult following and became a surprise international hit, playing at 20 film festivals and having a theatrical release in the U.S. in 2006. As part of the film's tour of international film festivals, Kuroda was invited to speak at the PIA Film Festival in July 2005. One reviewer commented that the film was boosted by "Emi Kuroda's skilled erotic contortions (as well as by her ability to rattle off her pseudo-intellectual dialogue as though she understands it)."