Kane Kosugi
Kane Kosugi ( ケイン・コスギ , Kein Kosugi ? ) born Takeshi Kosugi ( 小杉 健 , Kosugi Takeshi ? , October 11, 1974–) in Los Angeles, California is a Japanese-American martial artist and martial arts actor. He is the son of martial arts star Sho Kosugi.
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. 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, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Judo, and Kendo.
In 1994, he starred in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger as Jiraiya, "Ninja Black". He was the only member of the Kakuranger who spoke fluent English, and together with Makito Ozu (Yuki Ito), "MagiGreen" from Mahou Sentai Magiranger, are the only Rangers in Sentai history to speak fluent English. Saban would later use footage of the series Ninja Sentai Kakuranger in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Alien Ranger Arc.
In Japan, Kosugi is considered gaijin tarento (foreign talent) due to his Nisei (second generation foreign born) heritage.
He can be seen regularly on the NHK children's program Karada de Asobo (体で遊ぼ), which is an exercise show. 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.
He has a brother, Shane, who also makes occasional appearances on Kinniku Banzuke (known on G4 as Unbeatable Bansuke).
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 two 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. 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
Selected filmography
- Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
- Nine Deaths of the Ninja (1985)
- Pray for Death (1985)
- Journey of Honor (1991) also known as Shogun Mayeda
- Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (1993)
- Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994)
- Who Am I? (1997)
- 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)
- Coweb (2009)
- Timeless (2009) (Short film directed by Ryu Seung-wan, watch and download at Korean Motorola homepage)
- Baton (2009)
External links
- Kane Kosugi at the Internet Movie Database
- Official Site of Kane Kosugi
