Shima Iwashita

Biography

Shima Shinoda, better known as Shima Iwashita (born January 3, 1941, in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese actress. She was married to film director Shinoda Masahiro. She won the award for best actress at the 2nd Hochi Film Award for Ballad of Orin. In junior high school, she aspired to become a psychiatrist, but gave up on that dream when she was 16-17 years old and suffered from childhood rheumatism and was hospitalized for a long time. To divert her energy , she appeared in the 1958 NHK drama Bus Street Back. This was the beginning of her acting career. She made her film debut two years later in 1960. In 1999, she launched her brand "Kimono Shima" with kimono manufacturer Kyoto Marubeni, and made her debut as a kimono designer. In 2004, she was awarded the Purple Ribbon Medal. In 2012 , she was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette.