Hiroyuki Sanada - Life and Career

Life and Career

Sanada was born in Tokyo. Originally aiming to be an action star, starting with Shorinji Kempo, he eventually took up Kyokushin kaikan. Sanada began training at age 11 with actor and martial arts star Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club where he developed good all-round martial arts ability, and soon became Chiba's protégé. Sanada's martial arts film career led him in contact with Michelle Yeoh, whom he later starred with in Danny Boyle's Sunshine. He also has a long-standing friendship with Jackie Chan, although he did not star in a film with him before Rush Hour 3 in 2007. Sanada has often been credited, in his younger days, as either Henry, Harry or Duke Sanada.

Sanada has established himself as a character actor who is adept at playing a variety of roles. Sanada was first noticed as a serious actor in the movie Mahjong Hourouki directed by Makoto Wada. Wada and Sanada's relationship may be similar to that of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart. Since Mahjong Hourouki, Sanada has acted in every one of Wada's movies, works filled with humor and a nostalgic attachment for classic movies.

In 1999 and 2000, he performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in their production of King Lear, which earned him an honorary MBE in 2002. Many media reports erroneously stated that Sanada received the honorary MBE for being the first Japanese actor to perform with the RSC. This is not correct as Japanese actor Togo Igawa had performed with the RSC in 1985 and joined as a RSC member in 1986. Rather, Sanada received his honorary MBE award for his "contribution to spreading British culture in Japan through his performance in a joint Shakespeare production."

Some of Sanada's more famous movies are: Tasogare Seibei (The Twilight Samurai), Ring, Kaitō Ruby, and The Last Samurai. Sanada played Matsuda, the Japanese imperialist who befriends Ralph Fiennes' character in the 2005 film The White Countess directed by James Ivory. He also made an appearance in the Chinese film The Promise directed by Chen Kaige. Sanada has also been seen in Rush Hour 3 with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker and starred in 2007's The City of Your Final Destination, another James Ivory film, where he plays the younger lover of Anthony Hopkins's character.

Sanada joined the cast of the ABC show Lost in 2010 during its sixth and final season. He portrayed Dogen, a high-ranking member of "The Others". In March 2011 he was named to the Keanu Reeves–led cast of 47 Ronin, the first English-language adaptation of the Chushingura legend, Japan's most famous tale of samurai loyalty and revenge.