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Kane Kosugi

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Kane Kosugi
Born
Kane Takeshi Kosugi

(1974-10-11) October 11, 1974 (age 50)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor, martial artist
Years active1983–present
Parent(s)Shook Kosugi, Sho Kosugi
Websitehttp://www.kanekosugi.com

Kane Takeshi Kosugi (ケイン・健・コスギ, Kein Takeshi Kosugi, born October 11, 1974) is an American actor and martial artist of Japanese and Chinese descent.

The son of Japanese martial arts film star Sho Kosugi, Kane began his career as a child actor starring opposite his father in films like Revenge of the Ninja and Pray for Death. He first gained recognition in Japan for his starring role as Jiraiya (Ninja Black) in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, being the second American-born sentai ranger. He has appeared in over 30 films and television series, including the video game adaptations DOA: Dead or Alive and Street Fighter Alpha. He competed on six seasons of the obstacle challenge program Sasuke, where he was the first American competitor.

Like his father, Kosugi has appeared in both Japanese and American media. In Japan, Kane is considered gaijin tarento (foreign talent) due to his Nisei (second generation) foreign born heritage. Kane's mother, Shook Gim Chan, was born in China.

Acting career

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Since 1983, Kosugi has appeared in various roles as a voice actor for video games, stunt actor in movies and character actor in both English language and Japanese language films. His first movie, Revenge of the Ninja, had him playing the son of his real life father, Sho Kosugi. Kane kept his real name in the movie. He has also been in other movies starring his father as well. With the intention of following in his father's footsteps, Kane trained to become a martial arts actor. Kane has an extensive martial arts background in wushu, ninjutsu, taekwondo, karate, judo and kendo.[citation needed]

He made his Japanese acting debut in the 1993 television series Ryūkyū no Kaze (Dragon Spirit), the 31st entry in NHK's long-running taiga drama series. Kane followed this up with his first lead film role in the two-part Toei V-Cinema movies Za Kakuto Oh (The Fighting King) and Za Kakuto Oh 2 (The Fighting King 2) directed by his father. Next came the 1994 television series Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, an installment in Toei's Super Sentai franchise. Kane was the only American-born cast member of Kakuranger and his character (Jiraiya) spoke almost exclusively in English during his first few episodes.[citation needed]

He could be seen regularly on the NHK children's program Karada de Asobo (体で遊ぼ), which was a weekday exercise show that ran until March 2010. He also does commercial spots for vitamin drinks and regularly appears on a physical challenge show called Kinniku Oukoku (筋肉王国), formerly known as Kinniku Banzuke. He had a brief role as a Yakuza member in the action-thriller, War, with Jason Statham and Jet Li.

Kane then began to work in China and Hong Kong. He played Ryu Hayabusa, a master Ninja in the live action adaptation of the video game DOA: Dead or Alive, directed by Corey Yuen. He would play the lead villain in Coweb, the directorial debut of Xiong Xin Xin and the lead role debut of Jiang Lui Xia. In 2011, he appeared alongside real-life best friend Sammy Hung and Sammy's father, Sammo Hung in Choy Lee Fut.

In 2013, Kane played the lead villain Nakamura in the film Ninja: Shadow of a Tear opposite Scott Adkins. The two reunited on the film Zero Tolerance. Kane would also play the character of Kazuya Mishima in the prequel Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge in 2014. In 2016, Kane played "God Lee" in the Takashi Miike-directed adaptation of manga and anime Terra Formars. He went to China to play a disfigured assassin in the straight to streaming action-horror film Heaven Inspector, followed by a role as "The Rider" in the recently released film The Driver opposite Mark Dacascos. He is set to reunite with Dacascos on One Night in Bangkok while another film he shot, Maxx, is currently in post-production.

Sportsman No. 1

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From 1997 to 2004, Kane participated in the Japanese physical competition program Sportsman No.1 Decisive Battle, competing first against other celebrities and then against professional athletes, achieving unparalleled success winning a record 6 tournaments and finishing second in 4 others.

Tournament Airdate Result Points
Celebrity Survival Battle #2 1997.04.02 Winner 560 points (125 more than 2nd place finisher)
Celebrity Survival Battle #3 1998.04.01 Winner 950 points (540 more than 2nd place finisher)
Celebrity Survival Battle #4 1998.10.02 Winner 810 points (305 more than 2nd place finisher)
Pro Sportsman Tournament #5 1999.01.01 4th place 300 points (80 less than winner)
Celebrity Survival Battle #5 1999.03.26 2nd place 615 points (5 less than winner)
Pro Sportsman Tournament #6 2000.01.01 Winner 385 points (10 more than 2nd place finisher)
Celebrity Survival Battle #6 2000.03.24 Winner 685 points (205 more than 2nd place finisher)
Celebrity Survival Battle #7 2000.10.10 -14 Winner 446 points (96 more than 2nd place finisher)
Pro Sportsman Tournament #7 2001.01.01 2nd place 455 points (125 less than winner)
Celebrity Survival Battle #8 2001.03.23 2nd place 613 points (1 less than winner)
Pro Sportsman Tournament #8 2002.01.01 2nd place 540 points (25 less than winner)
Pro Sportsman Tournament #10 2004.01.01 4th place 350 points (105 less than winner)

Sasuke

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Kane competed on Kinniku Banzuke/Oukoku's special show Sasuke (known in America as Ninja Warrior) for several years (from 1997 - 2001). Thus far he is one of only four foreigners (with the others being Jordan Jovtchev from Bulgaria in SASUKE 8, Lee En-Chih from Taiwan in SASUKE 24, and René Kaselowsky from Germany in SASUKE 37), and the only American, to make it to the Final Stage in SASUKE, out of 3,700 total competitors to date and twenty-seven different Final Stage competitors. Despite his strong performances, #98 is the highest number he has ever worn.

He stopped participating after the 8th competition. Around the time of SASUKE 11, in an interview with the Kinniku Banzuke successor, Taiku Ookoku, he said, "私は訓練に時間があれば、私は競争したいと思います。", which roughly translates to, "If I have time to train, I would like to compete." Kane is still the only competitor to compete five times without failing the first stage. He was the first competitor to beat the Spider Climb in the final stage, doing so in Sasuke 8.

After a 21 year absence on the show, Kane appeared again in SASUKE 40. He kept his streak of first stage clears alive, and became the oldest competitor to ever clear the First Stage at age 48.

Here is a table of information of his participation in Sasuke.

Competition Airdate Competitor # Stage Obstacle
SASUKE 1 1997.09.27 89 Third Failed Pole Bridge
SASUKE 4 1999.10.16 97 Third Failed Cliff Hanger
SASUKE 6 2000.09.09 98 Third Failed Body Prop
SASUKE 7 2001.03.17 98 Second Failed Spider Walk
SASUKE 8 2001.09.29 91 Final Failed Final Rope
SASUKE 40 2022.27.12 3991 Second Failed Backstream

Personal life

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Kane was born in Los Angeles, California, on October 11, 1974, as the eldest of three siblings. His parents are legendary Ninja film actor Sho Kosugi, who is Japanese; and Shook Kosugi, who is Chinese Hakka.[1] Kane has a brother, Shane (born 1976), who made occasional appearances on Kinniku Banzuke (known on G4 as Unbeatable Bansuke) and Sasuke as well as appear as Kane's younger brother in some of their father's ninja films in the 80's; and a sister, Ayeesha (born 1983), who is a golfer and a former senior at University of Las Vegas.[2] He was romantically involved with female golfer Riko Higashio, but broke up in 2005 when they seemed on the verge of marriage.[3] In December 2009, Kane married a woman from Hong Kong.[4] On March 4, 2019, Kane became a dad when his wife gave birth to a baby daughter.[5]

Rift with father

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Kosugi and his father were seemingly no longer on speaking terms due to Kane choosing a career in Japanese television instead of helping to run some of his schools under the banner of his institute, and even taking some of Sho's staff with him. In reference to Kane, Sho was reported as saying on a television show with fortuneteller Kazuko Hosoki in April 2007, "My son is a coward!" (息子は卑怯だ, Musuko wa hikyō da), saying Kane "stabbed me in the back" and at one point made a reference to Judas Iscariot.[6] However, Sho was seen at Kane's wedding in late 2009, indicating that they are reconciling or already have.[7]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1983 Revenge of the Ninja Kane Osaki
1985 9 Deaths of the Ninja Kane Yamada
Pray for Death Takeshi Saito
1988 Black Eagle Brian Tani
1991 Journey of Honor Yorimune Tokugawa
1994 The Fighting King Ken Ōshiro V-cinema
Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Jiraiya/Ninja Black
The Fighting King 2 Ken Ōshiro V-cinema
Super Sentai World Ninja Black (voice) Short film
1995 Zero Woman II Ken V-cinema
1996 Chōriki Sentai Ohranger: Ole vs. Kakuranger　 Jiraiya/Ninja Black V-cinema
1997 Cat's Eye Lee, the Black Flag
1998 Who Am I? Takeshi
2000 Street Fighter Zero: The Animation　 Ryu (voice) Japanese version
2002 Muscle Heat Joe Jinno
2004 Godzilla: Final Wars Kazama
2006 DOA: Dead or Alive Ryu Hayabusa
2007 War Temple Garden Warrior
2009 Baton Satan (voice) Japanese version
Coweb Song Li-shan
Timeless Kane Short film
2011 Choy Lee Fut Shōsa Takeda
2013 Ninja: Shadow of a Tear Nakabara
2014 Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge Kazuya Mishima
2015 Zero Tolerance Kane
2016 Terra Formars God Lee
2018 Heaven Inspector Ya Ba Web film
2019 The Driver The Rider
2020 One Night in Bangkok Japanese Fixer
2021 MAXX Maxx
2022 Kamen Rider Revice the Movie: Battle Familia Azuma

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1984 The Master Bobby 1 episode
1993 Dragon Spirit Ken 16 episodes
Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero Kenichi Kai 13 episodes
1994 Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Jiraiya/Ninja Black 51 episodes
1996 The Kindaichi Case Files Wataru Iwano 2 episodes
Legend of St. Dragon Daisaku Sendō 10 episodes
1999 Truth: My Child's Murder Diary Tsuyoshi Nomura Television film
Hagure Keiji Junjoha Hideyuki Noda Seasons 12–14
2008 Parallel Space Kurakane 1 episode
2009 Tokumei Kakaricho Tadano Hitoshi Shunsuke Tōdō 1 episode
2016 Detective Hachikei: Brilliant Reasoning Keitarō Hachiya Television film
2018 The Top Fair Officer Kane 6 episodes
2020 Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Absolute Conspiracy[8] Ultraman Powered (voice) English version

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2023 Wild Hearts Nobumitsu Tsumori (voice) English version[9][10]

References

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  1. ^ "Interview with Kane Kosugi" Kung Fu Kingdom, 29 December 2013
  2. ^ "UNLV Rebels - Women's Golf: Ayeesha Kosugi"
  3. ^ "Junichi Ishida headed for marriage with golfer Higashio". Tokyograph.
  4. ^ "Kane Kosugi ties the knot". Tokyograph.
  5. ^ "Kane Kosugi Instagram". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24.
  6. ^ Sho Kosugi - "My son is a coward!", He Vents (Japanese)
  7. ^ "Happy News to End the Year". Japan Zone.
  8. ^ Lauren Christine (November 23, 2020). "Kane Kosugi Discusses Reprising Ultraman Powered in New Interview". Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  9. ^ Omega Force. Wild Hearts. Electronic Arts. Scene: Ending credits, 42:06 in, ENGLISH VOICE-OVER CAST.
  10. ^ Takano, Rikiya [@1104Rikiya] (February 13, 2023). "Casting Director を務めましたゲーム"Wild Hearts"の英語版音声のメインキャストが発表されました‼︎作品のコンセプトに合わせ英語音声のキャスティングを日本で行えたことを嬉しく思うと共に、総勢46名のキャストの皆様とご一緒できたことに感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです‼︎ @playWildHearts" (Tweet). Retrieved February 13, 2023 – via Twitter.
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