Yoshiyuki Baba (馬場 義之, Baba Yoshiyuki), known professionally as Togo Igawa (伊川 東吾, Igawa Tōgo), is a Japanese actor based in England. He works primarily in British theatre, films and television. He was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2012 for his role in Total War: Shogun 2.
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Career
Igawa founded Black Tent Theatre, a theatrical group in Japan before moving to the UK and becoming the first Japanese member of The Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986.
He went on to have roles in major films such as Revolver, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Last Samurai, and A Matter of Size.
Additionally, Igawa provides the voices of Professor Moshimo in Robotboy, and Hiro in the Thomas & Friends franchise starting with 2009's Hero of the Rails. He also appears in 2011's Johnny English Reborn, the sequel to Johnny English, as English's Tibetan guru and is in the 2012 film Gambit playing businessman Takagawa.
His television roles have included appearances in Lovejoy, Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, The IT Crowd, Torchwood, Casualty, Archer, Doctor Who, and The Crown. In 2019 he joined the cast of BBC series Giri/Haji.
Igawa voiced the main villain Colonel Lee in the video game Crysis Warhead and the Yakuza character Jiro in the 2013 video game Payday 2. He was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance in Total War: Shogun 2.
In 2023 Igawa played real life businessman Hiroshi Yamauchi in Tetris.
In 2024, he will next be seen starring in Kyoto, a new play on the West End theatre, reuniting with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Personal life
Igawa lives in England with his wife Adrienne Baba.
He studied at The Haiyuza Theatre Company Acting School and Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music.
Filmography
Film
Kagirinaku toumei ni chikai blue (1979) as Okinawa
The Man Who Shot Christmas (1984) as Koji
Half Moon Street (1986) as Japanese Waiter
Just like a Woman (1992) as Akira Watanabe
Incognito (1998) as Agachi
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) as Japanese Man #1
The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz (1999) as Japanese Scuba Diver
The Last Samurai (2003) as General Hasegawa
Code 46 (2004) as a Driver
Revolver (2005) as Fred
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) as Tanaka
Irish Jam (2006) as Mr. Suzuki
Speed Racer (2008) as Tetsuo Togokahn
The Hedgehog (2009) as Kakuro Ozu
Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails (2009) as Hiro (voice)
A Matter of Size (2009) as Kitano
Ninja (2009) as Sensei Takeda
Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue (2010) as Hiro (voice)
Johnny English Reborn (2011) as Ting Wang
Gambit (2012) as Takagawa
Thomas & Friends: King of the Railway (2013) as Hiro (voice)
Television
Gems (1985–1986) as Mr. Horikoshi/Mr. Jima
Never the Twain (1988) as Japanese tourist
Small World (1988) as Prof. Motakazu Umeda
Forever Green (1989) as Mr. Okisawa
Screen Two (1989) as Hiroto
Murder Most Horrid (1991) as Japanese tourist
Lovejoy (1992) as Mr. Kashimoto
Drop the Dead Donkey (1996) as Mishima
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (2005) as Jafar Shin (voice)
Robotboy (2005–2008) as Professor Moshimo
The IT Crowd (2006, 2008) as Yamamoto
Torchwood (2006) as Dr. Tanizaki
Thomas & Friends (2010–2020) as Hiro (voice)
Casualty (2014) as Than Sein
Marco Polo (2014) as Chuluun
Archer (2015) as Kentaro Sato (voice)
Doctor Who (2017) as Secretary General
The Amazing World of Gumball (2017) as Mr Yoshida, Mystical Narrator (voice)
Doctors (2017) as Akio Tanaka
Origin (2018) as Eiichi Yagami
Video games
Shogun: Total War (2001) as Narrator
Perfect Dark Zero (2005) as Zhang Li
Genji: Days of the Blade (2006) as Musashibo Benkei
Crysis Warhead (2008) as Colonel Lee
Payday 2 (2015) as Jiro
Total War: Shogun 2 (2010, cooperating with Sega and Creative Assembly) as game's narrator
Evil Genius 2: World Domination (2021) as Jubei
Wolfstride (2020) as Oyabun
Rise of the Rōnin (2024) as Bladesmith's Counterpart