Ryo Ishibashi

A multi-talented Japanese actor and musician who's graced the silver screen in dozens of supporting roles since the early '90s, Ryo Ishibashi is perhaps most famous for playing Detective Nakagawa in the American horror blockbuster "The Grudge." A former frontman for Japanese rockers ARB (Alexander Ragtime Band), Ishibashi played a series of bit parts in the late '80s before taking up acting full-time in 1990. Frequently cast as a man of steely resolve in action and horror films, the actor became a particular favorite of cult directors Takashi Miike and Takeshi Kitano, making strong performances in the former's grisly 1999 horror feature "Audition" and the latter's well-received 2000 gangster thriller "Brother."

But Ishibashi himself would garner significant cult fame for his portrayal of Kuroda, a spooked investigator on the trail of a wave of seemingly unconnected suicides, in director Sion Sono's controversial 2002 film, "Suicide Club." The performance drew the attention of American producer-director Sam Raimi, who cast Ishibashi in a similar role in the 2004 remake of the Japanese film "The Grudge," as well as its 2006 sequel, "The Grudge 2."