Takeshi Kaneshiro is a popular singer and actor of Japanese-Taiwanese descent, best known for his work in the crime drama Fallen Angels, the adventure action movie House of Flying Daggers, and in the Hero movie about martial arts.
His last name means “Golden City” in Chinese, and in Japanese means “Golden Castle”. Success on television has contributed to Takeshi’s departure from the music industry forever. The attractive man in the photo, Takeshi Kaneshiro, in 2003 was named The Times by Johnny Depp of the Asian Film Industry.
A family
Takeshi was born on October 11, 1973 in the capital of Taiwan, the city of Taipei in a wealthy family. His father, a successful businessman, a hospital from Okinawa, the largest island of the Japanese Ryukyu archipelago, is half Chinese, half Japanese, and his mother is a housewife from Taiwan. This unique origin led to the fact that the actor can freely speak several languages: Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese, English and Cantonese.
Kaneshiro has two brothers, one of whom is older than him by a year, and the other by seven years. Although the actor was born and raised in Taiwan, Takeshi has Japanese citizenship since birth.
Early life
As a child, Kaneshiro did not need anything, his parents indulged all his whims. When he became interested in cinema, he began to spend countless hours watching national and international films. He was an active teenager - in addition to cinema, Takeshi also studied music, his early teens were also devoted to singing and learning to play the guitar.
Due to his mixed origins, his classmates mocked him, Kaneshiro felt like a stranger both in a Japanese school and among Taiwanese teenagers in his area. For this reason, Takeshi transferred to Taipei American School. Soon, the actor began to speak English quite freely.
The first steps in the entertainment industry
In high school, Kaneshiro started going to auditions and soon received an offer to star in television commercials. In several commercials, he even showed his singing talent. At the age of fifteen, Kaneshiro began a successful career as a pop singer in Cantonese and Mandarin, under the pseudonym Aniki, which translates from Japanese as "big brother." To fully devote himself to acting and music, Takeshi decided to drop out of school.
In 1992, his debut album Heartbreaking Nights ("Heartbreaking Nights") was released. The album was a great success, and Takeshi quickly gained popularity among young fans. And as is the case with other Asian pop stars, Kaneshiro began to offer roles in films.
His first work on the big screen took place in the action adventure "Heroic Trio 2: Executioners". Then he played the main characters in such films as the comedy film "The Wrath of Silence" and the romantic fantasy "Mermaid Married", a remake of the American movie "Splash" about a resident of the deep sea who falls in love with a person.
Collaboration with a Hong Kong director
These two paintings attracted the attention of the famous filmmaker Wong Karvai, and he made contact with Kaneshiro and without formal listening invited him to star in his new drama "Chungking Express." The plot focuses on a 24-hour snack bar located in a shopping area. Next to it, the stories of three lonely heroes develop and intersect, which in the end find their way to happiness. The film was released in 1994, was a resounding success and received several film awards: at the Stockholm International Film Festival, the Golden Horse Film Festival, held in Taiwan, and the Hong Kong Film Award.
On the advice of Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino, the picture was released in the United States, where it was also popular. A year later, a sequel came out - a drama entitled "Fallen Angels." The film made a splash, like the first picture, and Takeshi Kaneshiro was at the pinnacle of success. He became a recognizable and popular actor, he was simply overwhelmed with proposals for filming a movie.
Movies with Takeshi Kaneshiro
Work followed in the 1995 Taiwanese teenage drama School Days, in the Taiwanese-Hong Kong comedy troublemaker about the restless and mischievous little boy from a wealthy family, and in the romantic melodrama On the Edge of the Earth. He starred in at least five films in a year.
His career as an actor was very prolific - since 1995, more than thirty films with the participation of Kaneshiro have been shot. Among them, the most notable: the US-Korean comedy melodrama “Tired of Dying”, the dramatic action movie Zhang Yimou “The House of Flying Daggers”, the epic military film “Red Rock”, the Japanese action movie “K-20: The Legend of the Mask”, the Chinese-Hong Kong combat drama "Generals".
One of his last works: the romantic comedies The Carrier and This Is Not What I Expected, and the upcoming crime thriller Sons of the Neon Night about the confrontation between drug opponents and drug dealers.
Takeshi Kaneshiro's personal life
The actor is a very religious person, like his mother, he is a practicing Buddhist since 1997. During the interview, Takeshi often discusses philosophical issues and casts doubt on generally accepted values and ideals, principles of morality. When asked about how he would like to be remembered, he answered irritably that he was not interested.
The media did not show confirmed information about the status of Takeshi’s relationship with anyone. Actor Takeshi Kaneshiro said that he will become a wonderful husband and father, will help with the housework and take care of the children when the time comes.