Takeshi Kaneshiro - Multilingual Stud

January 2005 – Star Bios
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Multilingual Stud


Born in Taipei on 11 October 1973 to a Japanese father and a Taiwanese mother, Takeshi Kaneshiro is one of Asian cinema's most-favored heartthrobs who has been voted as one of the most beautiful men in the world several times. Fluent in five languages, Kaneshiro quickly captured the hearts of fans throughout China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. And for this reason, Disney had chosen him to be Tarzan’s voice, doing Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese voiceovers for the cartoon, and introducing Kaneshiro to the Hollywood!

Kaneshiro was raised in Taiwan and visited Japan for the first time at the age of 18. He enrolled in the Taipei American School after being constantly harassed by former classmates at a regular Taiwanese high school about his mixed heritage. When asked, however, Kaneshiro considers himself Japanese, accounting for the fact that his father is Japanese and that he was raised with a Japanese name.

During his high school years at the Taipei American School, Kaneshiro entered the showbiz doing television commercials. In the mid 1990s Kaneshiro brought his soulful eyes and sensitive good looks to Hong Kong. He made his debut as a singer in 1992 and instantly became a star of the Chinese-speaking region, singing in both Mandarin and Cantonese where he composes and writes many of his own songs.

His silver screen debut came in Johnnie To’s EXECUTIONERS (1993), where he made such a deep impression that it became his only supporting role to date. Kaneshiro has since played the male lead in all of his subsequent films, which include the Hong Kong Film Award winning CHUNG KING EXPRESS and FALLEN ANGELS whose director, internationally acclaimed Wong Kar Wai, speaks highly of his depth and versatility.

Despite being effortlessly good-looking, Kaneshiro eschews the usual pop fodder in favor of quirky character parts - a move that is unusual for Asian leading men. Coincidentally, a Japanese television producer spotted Kaneshiro and gave him a role in an unusual miniseries. The controversial show was a huge success in Japan and sparked Kaneshiro’s Japanese film career. His portrait was even taken for a popular Sony Playstation video game entitled Onimusha: Warlords (2001).

By his own design or not, the boyishness that marked his first steps into the showbiz has evolved into a cool, reticent demeanor that has now become his trademark, and his reluctance at being in the spotlight becomes legendary.

Aside from his achievements in the filming career, Kaneshiro also maintains a professional singing career as a pop star, and finds success as an international print model for the designer label Prada as well as appears extensively in advertisements all over Asia.

Kaneshiro is still best known for his role in the critically acclaimed film CHUNG KING EXPRESS, directed by Wong Kar Wai. The film was also well received in Japan, where his popularity is now steadily rising. In it Kaneshiro plays a handsome detective who is infatuated with a mysterious blonde hit-woman Brigitte Lin. Don’t miss out on the chance to date this multilingual stud on Monday, 17 January at 21:00 on STAR CHINESE MOVIES!