Hiroyuki Sanada began as a child actor and trained in martial arts from the age of five, becoming a major star in Japan before working internationally.
Ringu, The Twilight Samurai and Royal Space Force established the Japanese career, and The Twilight Samurai in particular is a quiet, unheroic performance in a genre built on the opposite.
He worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in King Lear, in English, which is a remarkable pivot, and then appeared in The Last Samurai, Sunshine, 47 Ronin and Mortal Kombat.
Shogun brought a late and enormous surge in recognition, and he produced it as well as starring.
