The Japanese actress Sei Ashina was found dead at age 36 in her apartment in Tokyo on Monday.
Ashina’s death by suicide was confirmed by her management company and the Tokyo police, according to Variety.
The actress was best known for playing one of the lead roles in the 2007 historical drama Silk, an international co-production directed by François Girard.
No motive is currently known for Ashina’s death, and she doesn’t appear to have left a note.
Her brother was the first to discover her body after she failed to return text messages and phone calls starting on Sunday.
A statement from her representatives, HoriPro, called Ashina’s death ‘sad and unfortunate.’
“The detailed situation is currently under investigation, but we would like to ask the media to consider the deep sorrow of their families and refrain from interviewing them,” it read.
“We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the kindness of Ashina during his lifetime and pray for the souls of all of you.”
Ashina, whose real name was Igarashi Aya, was born in 1983 and grew up in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture.
Following a move to Tokyo when she was just a teenager, Ashina began a career as a model.
Her onscreen acting debut came in the 2002 Tokyo Broadcast System drama series A Tale Of Happiness (Shiawase no Shippo).
Following more film and television projects, she scored her highest-profile film with Silk, an adaptation of the Italian author Alessandro Baricco novel of the same name.
The movie was directed by French–Canadian filmmaker François Girard, best known for helming the critically acclaimed drama The Red Violin.
American actor Michael Pitt starred as a French silkworm smuggler and Keira Knightley as his wife.
Ashina played an unnamed Japanese concubine whom Pitt’s character falls in love with and corresponds with via a series of translated letters.
Ashina scored the role after beating out 800 actresses vying for the part.
The actress was recently featured on the Japanese series Aibo: Tokyo Detective Duo, in which she played a recurring role from 2017 through this year.
Earlier this year, she was featured in the film AI Amok.
Ashina was also a popular voice actress, and she dubbed the lead character on the American series Revenge, which ran on ABC for four seasons from 2011–2015.
