Takeru Satoh (佐藤 健, Satō Takeru, born 21 March 1989) is a Japanese actor. He is best known for his leading role as Ryotaro Nogami in the Kamen Rider Den-O franchise, and as Himura Kenshin in the live-action Rurouni Kenshin film and its sequels.
Satoh was born on 21 March 1989 in Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama. Satoh briefly worked as a child actor for three or four years, appearing in commercials and magazine photo shoots. After he entered higher grades in elementary school, he decided not to continue as a child actor due to a "shy personality".[5] He graduated from Koshigaya Kita High School, Saitama in 2007.[6] In the same year, while shooting Kamen Rider Den-O, he was diagnosed with primary pneumothorax after complaining about pain in the left chest, and has since recovered.[7]
Following the success and popularity of Kamen Rider Den-O and its two further cinematic releases, in the spring of 2008, Satoh starred in the award-winning TBS drama Rookies as Yuya Okada, one member of a high school baseball club consisting of a group of delinquents. Satoh considers his role in Rookies to be his breakout role even though he only played a minor supporting role,[11] as Rookies was shown on prime time television and able to reach a much larger audience than any of his previous works. Satoh also starred in the live-action in the summer of 2009.
Satoh reprised his role as Ryotaro (Den-O) in the third film of Kamen Rider Den-O in October 2008. He also starred in the drama Bloody Monday, based on the manga with the same name.[12]
In the following two years, Satoh starred or guest-starred in TV shows such as Mei's Butler, Mr. Brain, True Horror Stories and MW Dai-0-sho, and in films such as Goemon and Beck.[13] In 2010, he played Okada Izō in his first Taiga dramaRyōmaden, and landed his first leading role on prime time television with teen drama Q10.
On 28 June 2011, he was confirmed to star as Himura Kenshin in a live action film adaptation of the manga series Rurouni Kenshin.[14]
2012–present: Rurouni Kenshin films and career expansion
Released in August 2012, the film grossed a total of 3.01 billion yen at the domestic box office.[15] Satoh made his stage debut as Romeo in the Japanese adaptation of Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet in May 2012.
His subsequent project Tonbi was a drama series based on a novel by Shigematsu Kiyoshi. He then starred in Real, a science fiction mystery movie directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, as well as The Liar and His Lover(she fell in love with my lie/she likes lies too much), a live-adaptation film based on the manga Kanojo wa Uso o Aishisugiteru.
In 2014, Satoh played the role of a rookie detective in Fuji TV's Bitter Blood.[16] He reprised the role of Himura Kenshin in two sequel films of Rurouni Kenshin live action franchise, Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends, both of which were released in 2014.[17][18]Rurouni Kenshin manga author Nobuhiro Watsuki praised Satoh's performance and called him the ideal actor to portray Kenshin.[19] He, alongside Rurouni Kenshin co-stars Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki, and director Keishi Ōtomo, was appointed as "Cultural Friendship Ambassador" to the Philippines by the Makati City council on 7 August 2014.[20]
In 2018, it was announced that the Rurouni Kenshin series would be getting two further installments, a prequel and a sequel to the original trilogy, with Satoh reprising his lead role. Principal filming wrapped in June 2019, with the movies being screened in 2020.[25]
Takeru has a younger sister. His parents divorced when he was in middle school. He played baseball during primary and middle school years,[27] and has a black belt in Shorinji Kempo.[28]
^Takeru considers his role in Rookies his breakout role during chat with an MC in the Takeru Festival 2009Archived 30 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine (2009-03-21). Retrieved on 2009-04-27.
^『天皇の料理番』が4冠獲得 「東京ドラマアウォード2015」 ["The Emperor's Cook" gains 4 wins at Tokyo Drama Awards 2015]. ORICON STYLE (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 January 2017.
^佐藤健、『天皇の料理番』で放送文化基金賞受賞 [Takeru Satoh receives the Hoso Bunka Fund Award for 'The Emperor's Cook']. ORICON STYLE (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 January 2017.
^佐藤健vsポケカ世界チャンピオン ガチバトル!!, retrieved 20 December 2021
He battled privately against the world champion of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Shintarō Itō and made a bet that he would write the title "Elite Four" into his Wikipedia page in case he wins.
Due to him winning this private battle, he stated in this video on his YouTube channel, that he now (unofficially) inherited the title as one of the Elite Four.
^Park, Jae-hwan (12 September 2023). "아시아콘텐츠어워즈&글로벌OTT어워즈 후보작 발표.. "더 글로리, 무빙, 만장적계절, 그리고 퍼스트러브하츠코이" [Asian Content Awards & Global OTT Awards Nominees Announced... "The Glory, Moving, All Seasons, and First Love Hatsukoi"] (in Korean). KBS. Retrieved 12 September 2023 – via Naver.
External links
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