{{Infobox person | name = Akira Kurosawa | honorific_suffix = Junior Third Rank | image = Akirakurosawa-onthesetof7samurai-1953-page88.jpg | caption = Kurosawa on the set of Seven Samurai in December 1953 | native_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Shinagawa, Tokyo, Empire of Japan | death_date = | death_place = Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan | resting_place = An'yō-in, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan | occupation = | years_active = 1936–1993 | notable_works = {{ubl| Drunken Angel (1948)Rashomon (1950)|Ikiru (1952)|Seven Samurai (1954)|Throne of Blood (1957)|The Hidden Fortress (1958)|Yojimbo (1961)|Kagemusha (1980)|Ran (1985)}} | height = 182 cm | spouse = | children = Hisao (b. 1945–) and Kazuko (b. 1954–) | signature = Akira Kurosawa Signature.svg | awards = | module = }} was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (1943). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films.Rashomon (1950), which premiered in Tokyo, became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. The commercial and critical success of that film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese filmmakers. Kurosawa directed approximately one film per year throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, including a number of highly regarded (and often adapted) films, such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957) and Yojimbo (1961). After the 1960s he became much less prolific; even so, his later work—including two of his final films, Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985)—continued to receive great acclaim. In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for