Masaaki Sakai

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Masa'aki Sakai (堺正章 Sakai Masa'aki , born August 6, 1946 as Kurihara Masa'aki) is a popular Japanese performer from Tokyo. He is best known to English-speaking audiences as the title star of the TV show Monkey.

[edit] Biography

Born the son of Shunji Sakai, a famous comedian in Japan, Sakai initially came to fame by fronting the group sounds band The Spiders. This group, formed in 1962, was popular throughout the 1960s; they spawned several hit songs as well five films. Funnily enough due to his later fame, Sakai created a dance called "the Monkey" which became a craze in Japan. Sakai went on to a successful solo career after The Spiders disbanded, and continued acting in films and on television.

He took the title role of Monkey in the 1970s Japanese TV program Saiyūki. This gained him fame in many English-speaking countries in the early 1980s when it was dubbed by the BBC and titled Monkey.

In 1999, he formed the band Sans Filtre with two former Spiders, Hiroshi Kamayatsu and Takayuki Inouye. They released their first album Yei Yei in 2000.

Sakai has been married and divorced twice, and has two daughters. He is an active supporter of AIDS charities. His show-business nickname is "Machaaki".