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Takeshi Kaneshiro

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Takeshi Kaneshiro
Born
金城武
OccupationActor
Websitehttp://www.fulong.jp/kaneshiro/takeshi.html


Takeshi Kaneshiro (Japanese and Chinese: 金城武, Hepburn: Kaneshiro Takeshi, Pinyin: Jīnchéng Wǔ), (born October 11, 1973) is a male actor. Takeshi Kaneshiro's Chinese name, written with the same characters, is pronounced as Jīnchéng Wǔ.

Biography

With a Hoklo (Southern-Han) mother and a Japanese father from Okinawa, Kaneshiro was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, and is a Taiwanese. Kaneshiro confirms this in his interview with An An Magazine, July 1998. He is, however, often referred to as half Han Chinese, half Japanese. His fansite however, states that his father is the one who is half Japanese and half Han.

He has two brothers (one 7 years older and one 1 year older). In a recent interview in Hong Kong, 23 Dec 2007, Takeshi Kaneshiro mentioned that he has one elder brother. [1]. After being bullied at a regular Taiwanese high school, the Gaoxong Preparatory School, over his mixed heritage, he enrolled at English-based Taipei American School, which enabled him to converse in English, making him effectively multi-lingual considering his fluency in Mandarin, Taiwanese (Min Nan) (his first-spoken language) and Japanese. As a result of his varied background, Kaneshiro can speak with varying degrees of fluency in English, Taiwanese (Min Nan), Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese. It was while he was studying there that he began doing TV commercials, and he decided to quit school in order to pursue a singing and acting career.

Career

In 1992, Kaneshiro made his singing debut, entering the business with the nickname Aniki, meaning 'older brother' in Japanese. His debut album was Heartbreaking Night (1992). Contracted to EMI, he wrote many of his own Mandarin and Cantonese songs. The following year, his popularity propelled him into acting and he now no longer produces any commercial music. He later stated that acting comes to him more naturally, while his singing capabilities are not up to scratch and best left to the "professionals", including his favorite singer Jackie Cheung. Kaneshiro maintains that singing is only his hobby.

His first movie was Executioners (1993) and this was followed by the critically acclaimed Wong Kar-Wai film Chungking Express (1994) and a string of other Hong Kong movies. Later, Kaneshiro starred in the highly successful Japanese TV mini-series God, Please Give Me More Time (1998), allowing him to branch into Japanese movies such as Returner (2002). Kaneshiro's work, however is more heavily concentrated in China, HK and Taiwan. He also became well known in the video game industry portraying the samurai warrior, Samanosuke, in the Capcom hit, Onimusha. In a June 2007 Article by the movie site Ain't It Cool News, it was revealed that Takeshi Kaneshiro will be in the Onimusha movie, reprising his role as Samanosuke [2]. This, however, has not been confirmed by Kaneshiro nor his agency.

Kaneshiro is often praised for having "chameleon-like" acting skills due to his ability to adapt to a wide variety of roles. He became a superstar playing oddball and forlorn characters and has proven impossible to typecast. Director Peter Chan, of the Chinese musical Perhaps Love, which Kaneshiro starred in, has been quoted as saying "I am willing to exchange my 11 nominations for the nomination of Takeshi for Best Actor award. My greatest regret is Takeshi Kaneshiro wasn't nominated". Despite this, he continued to receive rave reviews for a spectacular performance of a vulnerable yet angry and ultimately maturing character.

Outside of the entertainment business, Kaneshiro has acted as a spokesperson and model for Prada in Asia (1998) as well as Lifecard Creditcard Company, Honda, Sundiro Motorcycles, Lipice lips moisturizer, SonyEricsson, Pocari Sweat Soft drink, Morinaga Chocolate, Volvic, GEOS Language school, Petronas Oil company, Mitsubishi, Rice Burger, One2Free (HK) and Kiwi cold drink.

Filmography

Movies

Drama

Japan

  • The Golden Bowl (2002) (Japanese: ゴールデンボウル)
  • Love 2000 (2000) (Japanese: 二千年の恋)
  • God, Please Give Me More Time (1998) (Japanese: 神様、もう少しだけ)
  • The Miracle on a Christmas Night (1995) (Japanese: 聖夜の奇跡)

Hong Kong

  • Colour Of Armour (1995)

Taiwan

  • Grass Scholar (1992)

Discography

Albums

Year Title Label Notes
1992 Heartbreaking Night
(分手的夜裡) 		Philips, Polygram Mandarin album (Release date: September 1992)
1993 Just You and Me
(只要你和我) 		Philips, Polygram Mandarin album (Release date: June 1993)
1993 Reliable Best Friend
(可依靠的好朋友) 		Unknown Mandarin album (Best of 1992-1993) (Release date: 1993)
1994 Tender Superman
(溫柔超人) 		Philips, Polygram Mandarin album (Release date: February 1994)
1994 Ideal Lover
(標準情人) 		EMI Mandarin album (Release date: December 1994)
1994 Missed Date
(失約) 		EMI Cantonese album (Release date: December 1994)
1995 For My Beloved
(給我心愛的人) 		EMI Cantonese album (Release date: June 1995)
1995 Secretly Drunk
(偷偷的醉) 		EMI Mandarin album (Release date: October 1995)
1996 No Matter How Hard
(多苦都願意) 		EMI Mandarin album (Release date: October 1996)
1996 Memories
(精選集 Memories) 		Unknown Mandarin album (Release date: 1996)
1998 Best Collection
(金城武的精選歌集) 		Unknown Mandarin album (Release date: 1998)

Movie Soundtracks

Year Title Track Featuring Takeshi Notes
2005 Perhaps Love (如果愛) No.4 Forgot Who I am (忘了我是誰)
(duet with Zhou Xun 周迅),
No.6 Beautiful Story (美麗故事)
(duet with Ji Jin Hee 池珍熙),
No.10 Crossroad (十字街頭)
(duet with Zhou Xun 周迅),
No.11 What If (假如)
(Solo) 		Mandarin album (Release date: 2005)

Videogames

Misc

References

  1. ^ http://youtube.com/watch?v=aA-dc39qcaQ
  2. ^ http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32861
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