Takashi Shimizu

Born: 1972
Where: Maebashi City, Japan

The director is best known for the chiller The Grudge which he remade for the American market with Sarah Michelle Gellar.

He enrolled in drama and art at Kinki University while studying under screenwriter Ishido Toshiro before dropping out and working in a Kyoto cinema while he worked on scripts.

In 1995, he worked on Oguri Kohei's The Sleeping Man and moved to Tokyo where he worked as a freelance assistant director.

After joining the Film School of Tokyo he made a three-minute short which led to him being commissioned as a writer-director on the TV show School for Ghost G.

Next came the straight-to-video releases Ju-On and Ju-On 2 under the supervision of Hiroshi and he made his feature debut with Tomie: Rebirth, the third in the Tomie series by Ito Junji.

In 2003 he wrote and directed The Grudge and Grudge 2 and was called in by Sam Raimi for the US remake, with Gellar, Jason Behr and Bill Pullman.