Kane Kosugi

Kane Kosugi (ケイン・コスギ, Kein Kosugi) born Kane Takeshi Kosugi (小杉 健, Kosugi Takeshi, 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.

Sasuke

Kane competed on Kinniku Banzuke/Oukoku's special show Sasuke (known in America as Ninja Warrior) for several years (from 1997 - 2001). Thus far he is one of only three foreigners, and the only American, to make it to the Final Stage, out of 3,000 total competitors to date (plus an additional 300 American competitors on the Las Vegas based version of American Ninja Warrior Seasons 4, 5, and 6) and twenty-four different Final Stage competitors. Despite his strong performances, #98 is the highest number he has ever worn.

He stopped participating after the 8th competition. Around the time of SASUKE 11, in an interview with the Kinniku Banzuke successor, Taiku Ookoku, he said, "私は訓練に時間があれば、私は競争したいと思います。", which roughly translates to, "If I have time to train, I would like to compete." . Kane is still the only competitor to compete five times without failing the first stage.

Here is a table of information of his participation in Sasuke.

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.^[1] In December 2009, Kane married a woman from Hong Kong.^[2]

Rift with father

Kosugi and his father are seemingly no longer on speaking terms due to Kane choosing a career in Japanese television instead of helping to run some of his schools under the banner of his institute, and even taking some of Sho's staff with him. In reference to Kane, Sho was reported as saying on a television show with fortuneteller Kazuko Hosoki in April 2007, "My son is a coward!" (息子は卑怯だ, Musuko wa hikyō da), saying Kane "stabbed me in the back" and at one point made a reference to Judas Iscariot.^[3] However, Sho was seen at Kane's wedding in late 2009, indicating that they are reconciling or already have.^[4]

Selected filmography

References

External links

• Kane Kosugi at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Site of Kane Kosugi