Biografía

26 de agosto de 1941 · Tokio, Japón

1.63 m

Along with Mie Hama, Wakabayashi was one of the first Asian "Bond Girls", when the two of them appeared in 1967's 007: Sólo se vive dos veces (1967).

She was able to speak bits of Italian and German.

She impressed director Lewis Gilbert, when she learned the English language in just three months for 007: Sólo se vive dos veces (1967). In his 2010 memoir "All my Flashbacks", he wrote: "Akiko was fine. She could not only say the words, she could make sense of them." She became one of the few foreign actresses in the 1960s James Bond films, whose voice wasn't dubbed.

She and her fellow Japanese co-star Mie Hama didn't speak any English, so the producers from 007: Sólo se vive dos veces (1967) sent them to live separately with English-speaking families in England for three months, where children would talk to them incessantly in English. Akiko picked up the language, but Mie couldn't, so the producers had them switch roles, where Akiko got the dialogue-heavy role of Aki, while Mie's voice would be dubbed by Nikki Van der Zyl.

Diane Cilento {Connery's then wife} doubled for Mie Hama and Akika Wakabayashi in the swimming sequences as neither could swim,.

[on her leading man Sean Connery from 007: Sólo se vive dos veces (1967)] James Bond in the movie is a ladies' man, but Sean-san is a warm-hearted, honest man. He has a clear vision as an actor. He can be stubborn from time to time, but he is a real man with a bit of old-fashioned taste.