Hiroyuki Sanada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroyuki_Sanada

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0760796/bio

Born: Hiroyuki Shimosawa
          October 12, 1960, Tokyo, Japan
          Age 50
Occupation: Actor
Years active: 1969-present
Spouse: Satomi Tezuka(1990-1997- 2 kids

He is a relatively unknown Japanese actor.
Early life and career
At age 11, he began studying Kyokushin kaikan, a form of stand up, full contact karate. He began his training at martial arts star Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club. With him knowing how to perform martial arts, this led to being in contact with Michelle Yeoh. He starred in Danny Boyle's Sunshine later on with Yeoh. He is also good friends with Jackie Chan, although the only movie he starred in with Chan was Rush Hour 3, where he played Kenji, Insp. Lee's 'brother', Speed Racer, where he played Mr. Musha, owner of Musha Motors.

Speed Racer. He's really sexy in this picture!!!!!!!

 

Rush Hour 3

 

Sunshine

In 1999 and 2000, he performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in their play King Lear. This is the first time a Japanese actor had played a role in this play and also the first time a Japanese actor had performed with the group. This earned him an MBE

Handdrawn picture of Sanada

Some of his movies include The Last Samurai, where he played Ujio, who teaches Cruise's character Algren how to sword fight, the 2005 movie The White Countess, starring Ralph Fiennes, he plays Matsuda, the Japanese Imperialist who befriends Fiennes' character, 2007's The City of Your Final Destination, where he plays the young lover of Anthony Hopkin's character, Rush Hour 3 where he plays Kenji. He also had to learn Mandarin for his role of Mo Gik in The Promise. He is a graduate of the Film Dept. at Nihon University. The role that got him famous was his role in the 1978 movie The Shogun's Samurai.

The White Countess

 

The Shogun's Samurai