Takashi Yamazaki (山崎 貴, Yamazaki Takashi, born June 12, 1964) is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters with cutting-edge visual effects, he is considered a leading figure in the Japanese film industry. Yamazaki has received numerous awards, including an Academy Award, eight Japan Academy Prizes, five Nikkan Sports Film Awards, two Hochi Film Awards and an Asian Film Award. His films have collectively grossed more than $523 million worldwide. In 1986 Yamazaki joined the visual effects and animation studio Shirogumi and remained there throughout his career. His first directorial feature films were the science fiction films "Juvenile" (2000) and "Returner" (2002), for which he became known as "the Japanese James Cameron." He later gained even greater fame in Japan by directing adaptations of popular anime, novels and manga, including "Always: Sunset on Third Street" (2005), "Space Battleship Yamato" (2010), "The Eternal Zero" (2013) and "Stand by Me Doraemon" (2014); the latter two films together received a total of nine awards at the 38th Japan Academy Prize ceremony. Yamazaki's career continued with "The Great War of Archimedes," "Dragon Quest: Your Story," "Lupin III: The First" (2019) and "Stand by Me Doraemon 2" (2020).

His 2023 kaiju epic "Godzilla Minus One" became the most successful Japanese Godzilla film of all time and one of his highest-grossing films. Yamazaki and his visual effects team also became the first Japanese team to win an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. In 2024 Yamazaki was included in Gold House's annual "100 Most Influential Asians" list.

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