Sonny Chiba
Acting
Born: 1939-01-23 in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
Biography
Sonny Chiba (born January 23, 1939 - August 19, 2021), also known as Shin'ichi Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience. Born in Fukuoka, Chiba played a variety of sports in high school, including baseball and volleyball. He also practiced gymnastics and participated at the National Sports Festival of Japan in his third year. When he was a university student, he learned martial arts, earning a black belt in Kyokushin Karate in 1965 and later receiving a fourth degree in 1984. Chiba's career began in the 1960s, when he starred in two tokusatsu superhero shows. In his first role, he replaced Susumu Wajima as the main character Kōtarō Ran/Seven Color Mask in Seven Color Mask (Nana-iro Kamen) in the second half of the series. However, his breakthrough role was in the 1974 film The Street Fighter. Before retiring, Chiba had also appeared in a number of English language American films, including Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift (2006). Chiba died of COVID-19 complications at the hospital in Tokyo on 19 August 2021, at the age of 82. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sonny Chiba, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Hattori Hanzo
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Hattori Hanzo
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Uncle Kamata
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
Hattori Hanzo
Battle Royale II: Requiem
Makio Mimura
Survive Style 5+
Azama
The Street Fighter
Takuma Tsurugi
Sushi Girl
Sushi Chef
The Storm Riders
Lord Conqueror
Return of the Street Fighter
Takuma Tsurugi
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima
Katsutoshi Otomo
Virus
Dr. Yamauchi
Iron Eagle III
Horikoshi
The Bullet Train
Aoki
Sister Street Fighter
Seiichi Hibiki
Message from Space
Prince Hans
The Street Fighter's Last Revenge
Takuma Tsurguri
Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy
Jûbê Yagyû
Born to Be King
Ichiro Kusakari
Samurai Reincarnation
Jubei Yagyu
Wolf Guy
Akira Inugami
G.I. Samurai
Lt. Yoshiaki Iba
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka
Yasunori Hijikata
Legend of the Eight Samurai
Inuyama Dosetsu Tadatomo
Doberman Cop
Joji Kano
The Executioner
Ryuichi Koga
The Fall of Ako Castle
Fuwa Kazuemon
Invasion of the Neptune Men
Tachibana - Scientist / Space Chief
Fall Guy
Explosive City
Otosan
Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon
Duke Togo (Golgo 13)
Shogun's Ninja
Shiranui Shogen
The Bodyguard
Naoto Kiba
Shogun's Shadow
Iba Shoemon
Ninja Wars
Shinzaemon Yagyu
Hunter in the Dark
Samon Shimoguni
Terror Beneath the Sea
Ken Abe
The Executioner II: Karate Inferno
Ryuichi Koga
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2: Head of the Boss
Bartender (uncredited)
Immortal Combat
Jiro 'J.J.' Jintani