Saoko was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. With a bit of guidance from her family, she decided to be an actress at ten years old, and by 11 had her first appearance in a feature film. She started to learn dancing and singing in her early teens and was further influenced by seeing theater and dance performances almost every week. She graduated from Japan University College of Art with a BFA in Drama, and then performed in Tokyo Disneyland. After moving to New York in 2004, she has studied at HB studio, Singers Forum, NYU and more, and been working as a professional actress in films, TV, theater and commercials, and as a Japanese voice over artist for game app, educational app, industrial video, corporate video and many more, in the U.S. and Japan.