Ako was a child actress in Japan and she came to the United States to study at Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.

[2] Ako starred Off-Broadway in God Said This by Leah Nanako Winkler produced by Primary Stages at Cherry Lane Theatre and at Humana Festival.

[5] She played the Lady Macbeth character in Ping Chong's Throne of Blood, a stage adaptation of Kurosawa's film of the same name.

She reprised the role later that year at Brooklyn Academy of Music and was lauded for moving "with a quiet grace, and her frequent use of stillness is equally potent.

[15] Film credits include: These Birds Don't Fly South in the Winter (2019), I Origins (2014), Twelve (2010), No Reservations (2007), Shadowplay (short) (2002), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), Too Tired to Die (1998), Daitoryo No Christmas Tree (1996), Prisoners in Time (1995), and Sleepwalk (1986).