Takeshi Kaga
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Takeshi Kaga (鹿賀 丈史 Kaga Takeshi) is a well known stage and movie actor in Japan, and is probably best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show Iron Chef produced by Fuji TV. His birth name is Shigekatsu Katsuda (勝田 薫且 Katsuda Shigekatsu). He changed his name because he thought it was too Japanese.
Kaga was born on October 12, 1950 in the city of Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. His first experience on stage was at the age of seven when he joined the Kanazawa City Boys choral group.
In 1972, he joined the Japanese theatrical company Gekidan Shiki. While with the company, he played the role of Jesus in the Japanese stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar (1976), and role of Tony in West Side Story (1977). In 1980 he left SHIKI to play the role of Sanada in the movie Yajuu Shisubeshi. He starred in several movies throughout the 1980s, but his most famous role would be that of "Chairman Kaga", the eccentric and flamboyant host of Ryoori no Tetsujin, a cooking competition show (1993–1999). It became very popular, not only in Japan, but around the world, and is broadcast on the Food Network in the United States and Canada and on SBS in Australia, under the name Iron Chef.
Despite his international fame with the show, he has not given up his love for musicals. In 1987 he starred in the popular Japanese production of Les Misérables as Jean Valjean. He reprised his role as Valjean in 1995 as the representative of Japan during the encore of the 10th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables at the Royal Albert Hall in London. During the encore, Valjeans from 17 different countries joined the cast on stage. He also starred in Macbeth in 2000, and in Jekyll and Hyde as well as in The Threepenny Opera in 2001.
He has also lent his voice to Japanese anime, notably, he voiced the villainous character of Jiarudan The Collector in Pokémon the Movie - Revelation Lugia, the second Pokémon movie and also sung its theme song, "Ware Wa Collector."
In July 2005, the sketch of him biting into a yellow bell pepper resulted the clip being popular on YTMND, under the title "I love bell peppers!"
After Iron Chef ended, he went back to acting in movies and dramas. He also hosted Time Shock 21, a quiz show on Asahi Television in Japan. In 2005, Kaga performed as the lead in the Japanese production of Michael Frayn's Democracy and starred in the blockbuster film Sengoku Jietai 1549 (Civil Defense Wars 1549).
