Nori Shirasu is an international, Japanese-American multimedia artist, who first broke into the entertainment world as a featured dancer on the American music dance television show, Soul Train. Shirasu has continued to build a name for himself in both the art and entertainment industries.

Early Years and Education Shirasu was born in Nagoya, Japan, where he showed noteworthy artistic talent as a child. In 1997, he earned his bachelor's degree in architecture from, Chubu University and shortly after, moved to the U.S. In 2004, Shirasu earned a master's degree in studio arts from California State University, Los Angeles.

Career Shirasu has participated in numerous studio and commercial projects throughout Los Angeles including the Tokyo Olympics Opening Reception, LA Art Show, E3 the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Westime Magazine and the ArcLight Cinema Exhibition. He has also participated in special events with international companies such as: Prada, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Toshiba and LPL Finance. Shirasu and his work has also been connected to high profile charity events and he has painted several murals for the clothing retailer, American Apparel.

Shirasu also studied theater arts with Broadway star, Obba Babatundé, learned the vocabulary of Bebop music from Jazz Tap Percussionist, Ardie Byrant, and appeared in several commercials, videos and television shows including an IBM's 100-year Anniversary commercial, a Virgin mobile commercial, Beyonce's "Run the World" video, and the television show, "1,000 Ways to Die."

In 2018, the short film Shirasu made with actor/musician Pauletta Washington was nominated for the best Animation & Experimental film category and was screened at the Smithsonian African American Film Festival in Washington DC. In 2021, Nori completed his short film "Shifting Point," which he produced, wrote, directed, animated, narrated, edited and composed. In the film, he juxtaposed our past and some of today's reality such as environmental issues and racism, to discuss and question about our identities, purposes, as well as our future.

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Nori Shirasu

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