Emi Ikehata

Emiko Ikehata (池畑恵美子 , Ikehata Emiko ) , known professionally as Emi Ikehata, is a Japanese former actress, best known for her role as Naoko in The Grudge 3 (2009).

Emiko Ikehata was born 28 March 1978 to Japanese singer Yūzō Kayama and former actress Megumi Matsumoto. Her paternal grandparents are actors Ken Uehara and Yôko Kozakura. On her father's side, she is a direct descendant of Japanese Court Noble and Politician Iwakura Tomomi. Ikehata has three siblings, including eldest brother Nobuhiro Ikehata, and actors Tetsuo Yamashita and Mayuko Azusa. She studied at Keio University.

After graduating Keio University in 2000, Ikehata started out doing Japanese soap operas, including a recurring role in a series called Wipe Your Tears (2000) as schoolteacher Eriko Miyamoto. She also had a bit part in Song of the Canfields (2003), a film based on the single of the same name by Ryoko Moriyama, recounting the events of the Battle of Okinawa, and a supporting role in SF Whipped Cream (2002), a Sci-Fi Comedy by experimental filmmaker Takahisa Zeze.

Wanting to pursue acting in the United States, she immigrated in 2003 and attended the New York Film Academy where she further studied acting, and participated in many indie and student films by other alumni, along with Broadway stage productions. She initially went by her birth name, Emiko Ikehata, for screen credits until she began using her stage name, Emi Ikehata. In 2009, she scored her first leading role in a Hollywood film production in The Grudge 3 (2009) as Naoko, sister of the villain Kayako Saeki, who holds the secret to ending the curse once and for all.

Ikehata has been married and retired from acting in 2012.