Hiroyuki Sanada

As one of Japan's most talented and highest regarded actors of his generation, Hiroyuki Sanada has garnered the attention of American and foreign audiences with over fifty films and a Japanese Oscar® to his name.

Hiroyuki Sanada started his career in film when he was 5 years old, and later won the Japanese Academy Award for his role in The Twilight Samurai. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. On the heels of this success, Sanada made his mark with American audiences when he starred alongside Tom Cruise in Ed Zwick's The Last Samurai.Read More

As one of Japan's most talented and highest regarded actors of his generation, Hiroyuki Sanada has garnered the attention of American and foreign audiences with over fifty films and a Japanese Oscar® to his name.

Hiroyuki Sanada started his career in film when he was 5 years old, and later won the Japanese Academy Award for his role in The Twilight Samurai. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. On the heels of this success, Sanada made his mark with American audiences when he starred alongside Tom Cruise in Ed Zwick's The Last Samurai.

Since then, Sanada has been seen in a number of notable features including James Ivory's The City of Your Final Destination alongside Anthony Hopkins; The White Countess opposite Ralph Fiennes; Danny Boyle's sci-fi thriller Sunshine also starring Chris Evans and Rose Byrne; the action thriller Speed Racer alongside Susan Sarandon and Emile Hirsch; Brett Ratner's Rush Hour 3; Chen Kaige's The Promise, a Chinese epic fantasy romance; and the terrifying Ringu films.

On television, Sanada did an arc on the first season of the ABC series, Revenge. He also starred in multiple episodes of the hit series and award winning show, Lost, where he played the role of 'Dogen' in the final season. Beyond television, Sanada became one of the few foreign actors to tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in a production of King Lear with Nigel Hawthorne.

He was last seen in 20th Century Fox's action feature, X-MEN: The Wolverine, in which he starred as 'Shingen,' a crime boss and major enemy of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).