Sonny Chiba

Sonny Chiba
千葉 真一
Movie Pictorial (Eiga Joho), June 1965 issue
Born	Sadaho Maeda (1939-01-23)23 January 1939 Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan
Died	19 August 2021(2021-08-19) (aged 82) Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan
Other names	Shinichi Chiba JJ Sonny Chiba Rindō Wachinaga
Alma mater	Nippon Sport Science University
Occupation(s)	Actor, martial artist
Years active	1960–2021
Spouses	Yōko Nogiwa ​ ​ (m. 1972; div. 1994)​ Tamami Chiba ​ ​ (m. 1996; div. 2015)​
Children	Juri Manase Mackenyu Gordon Maeda
Relatives	Jirō Yabuki (brother)
Website	chibashinichi.com
Signature

Shinichi Chiba (Japanese: 千葉 真一, Hepburn: Chiba Shin'ichi, born Sadaho Maeda; 23 January 1939 – 19 August 2021), known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist.^[1] Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience.^[2][3]

Born in Fukuoka, Chiba played a variety of sports in high school, including baseball and volleyball. He also practiced gymnastics and participated at the National Sports Festival of Japan in his third year. When he was a university student, he learned martial arts, earning a black belt in Kyokushin Karate in 1965 and later receiving a fourth degree in 1984.

Chiba's career began in the 1960s, when he starred in two tokusatsu superhero shows. In his first role, he replaced Susumu Wajima as the main character Kōtarō Ran/Seven Color Mask in Seven Color Mask (Nana-iro Kamen) in the second half of the series. However, his breakthrough role was in the 1974 film The Street Fighter. Before retiring, Chiba had also appeared in a number of English language American films, including Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift (2006).

Chiba died of COVID-19 complications at the hospital in Tokyo on 19 August 2021, at the age of 82.