Naoko Mori
Born: 29th November 1971
Episodes Broadcast: 2005-2008
Naoko Mori was born in Nagoya, Japan and spent time in both New Jersey
and London as her father relocated for business. When her parents left
England to return to their home country, the teenaged Mori decided to
stay behind. She began to take singing lessons, and successfully
auditioned for the West End musical Miss Saigon. Mori later took
over the starring role, where she performed alongside her future
Torchwood co-star, John Barrowman. She made her television debut
in 1992, with an episode of the sitcom Desmond's and the first of
twelve appearances over the years in Absolutely Fabulous. Mori
soon won a regular role in the eighth season of Casualty. Other
Nineties television included Thief Takers, Bugs and
Psychos. Her first movie was Hackers in 1995, after which
she could be seen in the Spice Girls vehicle Spice World and the
critically-lauded Topsy-Turvy.
Mori focussed on television after the turn of the century, including
episodes of Judge John Deed, Doctors and Spooks. In
2005, she appeared in the revival of Doctor Who, taking the small
role of Dr Sato in Aliens Of
London / World War Three, an adventure for Christopher
Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. Mori's performance impressed executive
producer Russell T Davies, and he decided to bring her back when he
launched the spin-off series Torchwood in 2006. Her character,
now Toshiko Sato, was eventually killed off in the second-season finale
Exit Wounds. In between her
two runs on Torchwood, Mori returned to the West End in Avenue
Q.
Amongst Mori's credits after leaving Torchwood were
Maneater, Rocket's Island, Midsomer Murders and
The Terror. She was reunited with Eccleston when she played Yoko
Ono to his John Lennon in the 2010 telefilm Lennon Naked. Movie
roles included the action-adventure Everest,
science-fiction/horror Life, and musical sequel Mamma Mia!
Here We Go Again. A third West End run came in 2018, with The
King And I. In 2016, Mori started reprising the role of Tosh for the
Torchwood range of audio dramas from Big Finish Productions,
beginning with Zone 10.
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