Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Koji Ono. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Koji, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Actually I was majoring in the Law at my university but I wanted to pursue my dream so I decided to go to performing arts industry after graduating from university in Japan.
This was my first time to take a risk.
I had no guarantee to make a living with this industry but had a firm decision.
Fortunately after a few years later I could make a living with my performance jobs.
And I kept working in Japan over 12 years as a musical actor.
But I can’t stop my own dream that not only a performer but also an organizer or a producer I want share the Japanese musicals with all over the world.
So I had taken second risk to quit my Japanese musical company which is the most popular company in Japan.
Then I came to US by myself.
But I do think that taking a big risk returns a lot when you never give up and always take action!
Taking action and telling people what I want to do is always the key!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hello!
This is Koji Ono a Japanese actor and also producer.
I was working in Japan as a musical actor for over 12 years.
I was playing Lion King, West Side Story, Aida, Evita, A Chorus Line or so many broadway musicals in Japan in Japanese.
But my dream is to be on Broadway someday and also make Japanese musicals on Broadway.
So I quit Japanese musical company and came here US 2019.
And now I am performing here in US and also producing new musicals.
Other than that I am owning my company to teach Acting and Singing in English to Japanese musical kids with my Broadway actor friends.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I came to US in 2019 which is right before the Covid.
Fortunately I could get my O-1 VISA which is usually called Artist VISA.
But right after that the pandemic started and all the theaters are closed in US.
I came here to work theatre industry but all theares were shut down. So I had nothing to do.
But still I tried to perform online and also produce a musical with online and also studied English as much as I can in my room.
Actually we working theatre industry people lost entire two years during the covid but I still tried to make a progress.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My dream is to be on Broadway as an actor and also make Japanese Broadway musicals and also make opportunities to Japanese musical actors to be international.
Also someday in the near future I want to bring a musical to Japan combined with Broadway actors and Japanese actors.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koji_ono1981?igsh=bnducmI1anNkbmZ5&utm_source=qr
• Twitter: @KojiOno7