Hiroyuki Sanada

Hiroyuki Sanada MBE
真田 広之
Sanada on a press tour for the series Helix (2013)
Born	Hiroyuki Shimozawa (下澤 廣之) (1960-10-12) 12 October 1960 (age 63) Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation(s)	Actor, singer, martial artist
Years active	1965–present
Spouse	Satomi Tezuka ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 1997)​
Children	2
Japanese name
Kanji	真田 広之
Hiragana	さなだ ひろゆき
Katakana	サナダ ヒロユキ
Transcriptions Romanization Sanada Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki Sanada MBE (真田 広之, Sanada Hiroyuki, born Shimozawa; 12 October 1960)^[1] is a Japanese actor, singer and martial artist. He began his career in the mid-1960s at the age of six, and gained prominence for his roles in Japanese and Hong Kong action films, later establishing himself as a dramatic actor.

He is best known to international audiences for his roles as Ryuji Takayama in Ring (1998) where he played alongside Nanako Matsushima who was also his co-star in a 1997 television drama A Story of Love.^[2] Beginning in the 2000s, Sanada grew his Hollywood presence with such roles as Seibei Iguchi in The Twilight Samurai (2002), Ujio in The Last Samurai (2003), Kenji in Rush Hour 3 (2007), and Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion in Mortal Kombat (2021).^[3][4] His role as The Fool in the Shakespeare play King Lear also gave him notable theatrical attention in the United Kingdom.

He made his first major Hollywood appearance portraying Ujio in The Last Samurai (2003), later appearing in such films as Sunshine (2007), Speed Racer (2008), The Wolverine, 47 Ronin (both 2013), Minions (2015), Life (2017), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Army of the Dead (2021), Bullet Train (2022), and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023). He also had recurring roles on Lost (2010) and the HBO series Westworld (2018–2020). In 2024 he starred in the FX miniseries Shōgun as Yoshii Toranaga, a fictionalized version of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

He has received numerous accolades, including two Hochi Film Awards, two Japan Academy Film Prizes, a Mainichi Film Award, three Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Actor, four Kinema Junpo Awards, and honors from the Yokohama Film Festival. In 2018, he received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government for his "artistic developments, improvements, and accomplishments".^[5]