Kane Kosugi

Kane Kosugi born Kane Takeshi Kosugi (October 11, 1974) in Los Angeles, California is an American martial artist and martial arts actor of direct Japanese descent. He is the son of martial arts film star Sho Kosugi. In Japan, Kosugi is considered gaijin tarento (foreign talent) due to his Nisei (second generation foreign born) heritage. Acting career 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. He even 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. 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 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 Company'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. 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. His most recent Hollywood project was the action-thriller, War, with Jason Statham and Jet Li in which he played an unnamed Yakuza member. Personal Kane has a brother, Shane, who made occasional appearances on Kinniku Banzuke (known on G4 as Unbeatable Bansuke). He was romantically involved with female golfer Riko Higashio, but broke up in 2005 when they seemed on the verge of marriage. In December 2009, Kane married a woman from Hong Kong.