Yuri Nakamura dies at 44 after concealing cancer for 13 years

Yuri Nakamura, the Japanese-Korean actor who played the psychologist Irene in the Netflix series Romantics Anonymous, died of rectal cancer on Sept. 1 at 44, 13 years after her first cancer diagnosis.

Her management company, Alpha Agency, announced the death on Sept. 14 and said a private funeral had already been held. The same statement disclosed that Nakamura had first been treated for cancer 13 years ago, a diagnosis she and the company had kept from the public and from colleagues on set.

Nakamura worked through most of that period. She appeared in Romantics Anonymous, the Japanese Netflix original that rose to number one on the service's Japanese series chart after its October 2025 premiere, Deadline reported. The series was her first role to reach a large audience outside Japan, and Variety listed it and the 2024 Netflix drama Beyond Goodbye as her final screen appearances.

What the agency disclosed

According to the Alpha Agency statement, Nakamura was first diagnosed 13 years ago. Treatment put the disease into remission and she went back to steady film and television work, keeping to regular medical check-ups between jobs. That routine held for more than a decade, through film and stage work, without the people around her being told what the examinations were for.

The statement was posted on the agency's official website and closed by asking the media to respect the privacy of the bereaved family and to refrain from filming around Nakamura's residence, Tokyo Reporter reported.

Cancer was found again in January 2025. Surgery was carried out and went well, but metastasis was discovered afterwards, and the agency said a complete cure or a further remission was considered difficult at that point. Treatment turned to managing the disease so that she could live longer and stay active, and her doctor encouraged her to keep acting. She did.

In August 2026, while she was preparing to return to work, Nakamura suffered another bowel obstruction and was told she had only a short time to live.

A diagnosis kept from colleagues

The decision not to name the illness was taken at the time of the first diagnosis, by Nakamura and the agency's president together, according to the statement as translated by Variety. The agency's account gives the reason as concern that colleagues would worry. What that earlier cancer was has not been made public.

The arrangement held until July 2026. On July 13 it was announced that Nakamura would step down from the NHK drama Dangerous, which was scheduled to begin airing in January 2027, because of an intestinal obstruction, IBTimes UK reported. The cancer was not mentioned. The agency said she was working toward recovery and a return to work.

We should not tell people at work the name of the disease, as it would cause them unnecessary worry.

The agency's account set the illness against the work. It said much of Nakamura's 30s and 40s was shaped by battles with illness, and that those same years also brought encounters and moments the agency described as fulfilling. It thanked the fans who had supported her and the staff and performers she had worked with.

The statement did not identify the type of cancer diagnosed 13 years earlier, the illness that by the agency's own account shaped most of her working life.

From a pop duo to film

Nakamura was born Yuri Sei in Neyagawa, Osaka, on March 15, 1982. Her father was a third-generation Zainichi Korean and her mother held citizenship in both South Korea and Japan, Variety reported. That background ran through the role that first brought her critical attention.

Her way into the industry was music. In 1996 she passed an audition on the TV Tokyo talent program Asayan and formed the duo YuriMari with Mari Izawa, which debuted in 1998 and broke up the following year. She moved into acting in 2003, Tokyo Reporter reported, and built a filmography through the 2000s and 2010s.

Pacchigi! Love & Peace, released in 2007, gave her her first major screen role: Kyonja, an aspiring actor living as a Zainichi Korean in Japan, in Izutsu Kazuyuki's sequel to his earlier breakthrough film. The performance won her the Zenkoku Eiren Award for best actress and the Newcomer Award at the 3rd Osaka Cinema Festival, according to Variety.

The Netflix role and its reach

Romantics Anonymous, an eight-episode remake of the 2010 French-Belgian film Les émotifs Anonymes, paired Han Hyo-joo as a chocolatier with a fear of eye contact and Shun Oguri as a man who cannot bear physical contact. Nakamura's Irene, a psychologist, sat between them. Netflix lists her with the two leads among the principal cast, IBTimes Singapore reported.

Tributes from fellow actors

Jun Kaname, who worked with Nakamura in 2025, wrote that he resented the cruelty of the illness and that she had her whole life ahead of her.

Ryohei Suzuki said he had met Nakamura 20 years earlier at an acting school and had worked with her many times since, describing her as strong yet gentle and comparing her to a lily. The Tokyo International Film Festival also paid tribute, citing her appearances there and her work in By the Window and Ichiko.

Two decades of screen work

Between Pacchigi! and the Netflix series, Nakamura moved between festival titles and commercial films. She appeared in Kore-eda Hirokazu's After the Storm in 2016, the disaster drama Fukushima 50 in 2020 and Ishikawa Kei's science-fiction film Arc in 2021. Her television work ran alongside the films, and she also took stage roles.

Her stage credits included 1945, staged in October 2008 under the direction of Robert Allan Ackerman. On television she appeared in SUPER RICH and the 2022 drama Kurosagi, according to IBTimes UK.

Her earlier films included Love Letter From Heaven in 2007, Like Father, Like Son in 2013 and The 8-Year Engagement in 2017.

What has not been said

Alpha Agency has not said what that earlier diagnosis was or what treatment followed it. Its statement said only that a private funeral had already been held, attended by relatives, agency staff and fellow actors, and it asked reporters to stay away from Nakamura's home. Dangerous, the NHK drama she left in July, was scheduled to begin airing in January 2027.