Kane Kosugi (ケイン・コスギKein Kosugi?) is an American martial artist and martial arts actor. His real name is Takeshi Kosugi (小杉 健Kosugi Takeshi?). 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.
Career
Since 1983, Kane 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 inwushu, 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 calledKinniku 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. He played Kenichi Kai in Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero.
SASUKE
Kane has competed on Kinniku Banzuke/Oukoku's special show SASUKE (known in America as Ninja Warrior) for several years. Thus far he is one of only three foreigners, and the only American, to make it to the Final Stage, out of 2,400 total competitors to date and sixteen different Final Stage competitors. He stopped participating after the 8th competition because he said "I would like to compete if I have time to train.", however he still remains the only competitor to compete five times without failing the first stage. Here is a list of information regarding his participation including competition number, his number out of 100 competitors, as well as the stage and obstacle he was eliminated on.
- 1st competition (89) Third Stage - Pillar Path
- 4th competition (97) Third Stage - Cliff Hanger
- 6th competition (98) Third Stage - Body Prop
- 7th competition (98) Second Stage - Spider Walk
- 8th competition (91) Final Stage - Final Rope
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]
[editRift 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.
Selected filmography
- Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
- The Master, "A Place to Call Home" (1984) - Television (1 episode)
- 9 Deaths of the Ninja (1985)
- Pray for Death (1985)
- Black Eagle (1988)
- Journey of Honor (1991) aka Kabuto, aka Shogun Mayeda
- Dragon Spirit (1993) television series (16+ episodes)
- The Fighting King (1994)
- The Fighting King 2 (1994)
- Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (1993) - television series regular as Ken'ichi Kai (all 13 episodes)
- Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994) - television series regular (51 episodes)
- Legend of St. Dragon (1996) - television series regular (all 10 episodes)
- Cat's Eye (1997)
- Who Am I? (1998)
- Street Fighter Alpha (1999) Japanese voice actor for Ryu.
- Muscle Heat (2002)
- Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
- DOA: Dead or Alive (2006)
- War (2007)
- Fujiko F. Fujio's Parallel Space (2008) - television (1 episode)
- Tokumei Kakaricho Tadano Hitoshi (2009) - television (1 episode)
- Coweb (2009)
- Timeless (2009)
- Baton (2009)
- Choy Lee Fut (2011)
External links
References
- ^ "Junichi Ishida headed for marriage with golfer Higashio". Tokyograph.
- ^ "Kane Kosugi ties the knot". Tokyograph.
- ^ Sho Kosugi - "My son is a coward!", He Vents (Japanese)
- ^ "Happy News to End the Year". Japan Zone.