[Interview] Hiroyuki Sanada: "Promises" for Peace through Film

Very Interesting Interview for Hiro with LOTS and LOTS of information on his background and his life before acting. Check it out.



Hiroyuki Sanada: "Promises" for Peace through Film

by Dr. Craig Reid

In the world of martial arts cinema, a number of people have become living legends. You know the names. Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen... But sometimes someone goes unnoticed for years, despite great work, and only slowly do you come to realize that he, too, ranks as a legend. Hiroyuki Sanada is such a person. He's a quirky enigma, steeped in a film history that encompasses chanbara and kung fu films, old and new, something martial arts film fans may or may not realize. So when kungfumagazine.com was offered a one-on-one interview with Sanada, the answer was a resounding, "Hai."

Born as Hiroyuki Shimosawa in 1960 Tokyo, Sanada was orphaned at age 11. But even before then his fate in film and life had been sealed when he debuted, at age five, in GAME OF CHANCE (1965) alongside Sonny Chiba.

Sanada is a quiet, humble man who always thinks before he speaks. With a pleasant smile he recollects in English, "When I started acting at five, since way back then, I always felt physically weak, knew I was not healthy. So by age eight I decided to do swimming and began practicing kendo for my health and not for film. At age 10 someone told me that if I wanted to ever do acting again in the future that I should stop. So I did."

The rest of the interview is here:
http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=662

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