Masakazu Tamura was born 1 August 1943 in Kyoto, Japan to Japanese actor Tsumasaburō Bandō. Tsumasaburō Bandō died when Tamura was only nine years old. His brothers Takahiro and Ryō are also actors. He graduated from Seijo University. He was thus trained in fighting with swords and more traditional forms of Japanese theatre like Kabuki. He joined the Shōchiku company while he was still in university and made his debut in movies with the film Eternal Woman in 1961. He left Shōchiku company in 1966 and established his own agency. From 1963 to 1967,Tamura appeared in the Taiga drama 5 years in a row. He also appeared in the Taiga drama in 1971 Haru no Sakamichi and 1972 Shin Heike Monogatari. In 1967, He released his first and last song in his career "Sora Ippai no Namida". After appearing in several television series, he first attracted attention after landing a role in a television series, Fuyu no Tabi on TBS in 1970. He appeared in many period dramas such as Naruto Hitcho on NHK and most of his roles were skilled swordsmen. He played the role of Nemuri Kyoshirō and won great popularity in 1972. It is Tamura's most famous role in jidaigeki. Later 5 special version of the drama were made. He played the same role on the stage in 1973 and 1981. From the late 1980s he began to appear in comedy dramas such as Papa wa Newscaster or home dramas and gained new popularity. In 1993, Tamura played the role of Ogami Ittō in Akira Inoue's film by Kazuo Koike's strong request. His photo book of the film was also released. He is most famous for his role as the polite and highly idiosyncratic police detective, Furuhata Ninzaburō, in a self-titled drama by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani. This drama was one of the most popular in its time and one of the most popular dramas in the history of Japanese television. The drama started in 1994 and Tamura kept on playing detective Furuhata until 2006. In 2007, Tamura appeared in the film for the first in 14 years in Last Love. Tamura won ‘Outstanding Actor’ at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival for his work in the TV special “Ah, You're Really Gone Now” in 2009. Tamura appeared in several television dramas related to Chushingura but in 2010, he played Ōishi Kuranosukefor the first time in the special drama "Chushingura Sono Otoko Ōishi Kuranosuke". In 2018 he played Nemuri Kyoshirō for the first time in about 20 years in Nemuri Kyoshirō The Final on Fuji TV.
