Hiroyuki Sanada

Hiroyuki Sanada (真田 広之, Sanada Hiroyuki, born Shimozawa; 12 October 1960) is a Japanese actor. 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. 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). 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). Sanada gained acclaim for his role in the FX historical drama series Shōgun (2024) as Yoshii Toranaga, the titular character, in a fictionalized version of Tokugawa Ieyasu, which earned him a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. 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".