Sonny Chiba

Acting

Sonny Chiba

Born 1939-01-23 · Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

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.

Acting credits

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair poster
8.1

A former assassin, known simply as The Bride, wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Fueled by an insatiable desire for revenge, she vows to get even with every person who contributed to the loss of her unborn child, her entire wedding party, and four years of her life. After devising a hit list, The Bride sets off on her quest, enduring unspeakable injury and unscrupulous enemies.

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

2011

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 poster
8.0

An assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1

2003

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 poster
7.9

The Bride unwaveringly continues on her roaring rampage of revenge against the band of assassins who had tried to kill her and her unborn child. She visits each of her former associates one-by-one, checking off the victims on her Death List Five until there's nothing left to do … but kill Bill.

Kill Bill: Vol. 2

2004

The Storm Riders poster
6.5

Heeding a prophecy, a warlord trains two orphans after killing their parents. But the skills he teaches could lead to his downfall.

The Storm Riders

1998

Sushi Girl poster
5.5

Fish has spent six years in jail. Six years alone. Six years keeping his mouth shut about the robbery, about the other men involved. The night he is released, the four men he protected with silence celebrate his freedom with a congratulatory dinner. The meal is a lavish array of sushi, served off the naked body of a beautiful young woman. The sushi girl seems catatonic, trained to ignore everything in the room, even if things become dangerous. Sure enough, the four unwieldy thieves can't help but open old wounds in an attempt to find their missing loot.

Sushi Girl

2012

Battle Royale II: Requiem poster
5.0

It's three years after the events of the original Battle Royale, and Shuya Nanahara is now an internationally-known terrorist determined to bring down the government. His terrorist group, Wild Seven, stages an attack that levels several buildings in Tokyo on Christmas Day, killing 8000 people. In order for the government to study the benefits of "teamwork", the new students work in pairs, with their collars electronically linked so that if one of them is killed, the other dies as well. They must kill Nanahara in three days - or die.

Battle Royale II: Requiem

2003

The Murder Corps poster
NR

Nishinari, Osaka— Katsuhiro Tokuyama (Ryu Gan), who had been living as a civilian, gives in to repeated pleas from his former comrades and revives the delinquent gang Tokuyama-kai. The Tokuyama-kai begins seizing territory one after another from local yakuza groups. However, a clash with Nishinari’s largest prostitution syndicate, Shiraku-kai, becomes inevitable. Shiraku-kai retaliates by murdering one of Tokuyama-kai’s members, Shinjiro Nakanishi (Kyosuke Yabe), and kidnapping Katsuhiro’s only son, Nishiki. Swearing vengeance for Shinjiro and the rescue of Nishiki, six men arm themselves with Japanese swords and head for the Shiraku-kai headquarters. Waiting for them are 100 elite swordsmen, the Shiraku-kai’s fearsome “Batto-tai.” Six against one hundred. The curtain rises on a brutal, fearless battle where death holds no meaning.

The Murder Corps

2001

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift poster
6.6

In order to avoid a jail sentence, Sean Boswell heads to Tokyo to live with his military father. In a low-rent section of the city, Sean gets caught up in the underground world of drift racing

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

2006

The Bullet Train poster
6.9

A Japanese bullet train is threatened with a bomb that will explode automatically if the train slows below 80 km/h, unless a ransom is paid. Police race to find the bombers so the train crew can learn how to defuse the bomb.

The Bullet Train

1975

G.I. Samurai poster
5.8

A squadron of Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers find themselves transported through time to their country's warring states era, when rival samurai clans were battling to become the supreme Shogun.

G.I. Samurai

1979

Iron Eagle III poster
4.1

Chappy discovers a drug-smuggling scheme at his own air base. It turns out that the lives of some village people in Peru are at stake, and he decides to fly there with ancient airplanes and friends to free them.

Iron Eagle III

1992

Shogun's Ninja poster
6.3

In the middle of the 16th century, Hideyoshi, a power hungry warlord sets out to destroy the Momochi clan. He sends his war commander in search of the clan's hidden gold only to find that two daggers are the key to the hiding place of the treasured gold. Spanning decades, the quest for the missing daggers takes Shiranui through war and ancient tradition.

Shogun's Ninja

1980

The Bushido Blade poster
5.3

A steel samurai blade that was to be given to the American ambassador by the Emperor of Japan is stolen. American sailors and Japanese samurai are sent to find it.

The Bushido Blade

1981

Oda Nobunaga poster
8.0

Among the great ‘Warlords’ in Japanese history, Oda Nobunaga holds a unique place. In effect, his military success led to the ultimate unification of the country. This historically accurate portrayal of Nobunaga’s life and times is highlighted by many of Japan’s biggest stars, most notably Watanabe Ken in the lead role. Bloody realistic fighting, massive battles, and castle intrigues all drawn from historical sources bring this 2 part drama to new heights in storytelling.

Oda Nobunaga

1992

Fall Guy poster
6.5

Ginshiro, threatened by poor repute and upcoming star Tachibana, forces his friend Yasu to marry Konatsu, Ginshiro's pregnant mistress; Yasu becomes a stuntman to make ends meet.

Fall Guy

1982

Virus poster
6.3

Scientists in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure to a military virus that was released in a plane crash and has wiped out the rest of the world.

Virus

1980

The Horrible Obsessions poster
6.3

Detective Kikuchi is sent to Okinawa to investigate why a girl jumped from a window after shooting heroin. There, he encounters the usual assortment of addicts, dealers, pimps and sleazy American GIs.

The Horrible Obsessions

1972

Cabaret poster
4.8

A young jazz musician's desire to advance in his career runs afoul of organized crime in this thriller from Haruki Kadokawa. After a saxophonist starts playing at a particular nightspot, a thug from the Yakuza adopts him as a special friend for no greater reason than he plays one of his favorite songs well. As the dangerous life of the gangster intertwines with that of the musician, it brings harm to the musician's girlfriend, who is raped. This changes the young saxophonist's attitude about his patron, but his Yakuza "friend" is still too embroiled in his own problems to worry about anything else.

Cabaret

1986

Born to Be King poster
6.3

Triad member Chicken is designated by Taiwan's San Luen Gang to marry Nanako, the daughter of the fifth generation leader of the Yamada Gang in Japan. Later, the leader of the triad group gets murdered. Actually, all the San Luen Gang members suspect Chicken attacked their leader Liu, in order to make a chance for him to rule the Gang and thus have adopted an extremely hostile attitude towards him.

Born to Be King

2000

Space Sheriff Shaider: The Movie poster
6.5

An alien assassin, Omega, who makes a living by hunting down Space Sheriffs, arrives on Earth. Adapting a helmet, twin shoulder cannons, and other weapons into his fighting style after losing to Gavan and Sharivan, Omega is now targeting Shaider and challenges him to a fight to the death. Space Sheriff Shaider is the film adaptation of the Metal Heroes series of the same name. This movie takes place between episodes 19 & 20 of the TV show.

Space Sheriff Shaider: The Movie

1984

Shogun's Shadow poster
6.9

A shogun's eldest son must do whatever it takes to survive a series of attempts on his life. He receives much-needed aid from seven warriors who are led by a strong leader.

Shogun's Shadow

1989

The Unbeatable Bruce Lee poster
8.4

A look at the life of superstar Bruce Lee.

The Unbeatable Bruce Lee

2001

The Street Fighter poster
6.8

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

The Street Fighter

1974

Shogun's Samurai poster
7.0

Following the death of the second Tokugawa shogun, it is revealed that he was poisoned by retainers of his son Iemitsu in hopes of gaining him the shogunate despite the stammer and birthmark which undermine his respect. Iemitsu and his brother Tadanaga become bitter rivals for the shogunate, and the land is split into factions, eventually erupting into warfare. Iemitsu's mentor, his fencing instructor Yagyu, is fixated upon securing Iemitsu the shogunate and ends up betraying everyone, even his own family, in pursuit of the goal.

Shogun's Samurai

1978

Behind the camera

Yellow Fangs poster
7.1

Based on actual events that occurred in Hokkaido, Japan, 1915. Rimeinzu: Utsukushiki yuusha-tachi tells the story of a group of bear hunters that are tracking a 900 pound brown bear nicknamed Red Spots that is terrorising the area. It attacks and kills men, but it feasts only on women.

Yellow Fangs

1990

Yellow Fangs poster
7.1

Based on actual events that occurred in Hokkaido, Japan, 1915. Rimeinzu: Utsukushiki yuusha-tachi tells the story of a group of bear hunters that are tracking a 900 pound brown bear nicknamed Red Spots that is terrorising the area. It attacks and kills men, but it feasts only on women.

Yellow Fangs

1990

Fighting Fist poster
6.0

The Yakuza of Japan has infiltrated the universities of Hong Kong and are conducting illegal activities such as underground bare knuckle fights,gambling and drugs. Hong Kong Police team up with the Japanese Secret Service to bring down the ruthless gang but their agents always seem to wind up dead. As a last resort they have a female detective (Sibelle Hu) infiltrate the organization in order to bring them down.

Fighting Fist

1992

Oyaji poster
10.0

Surrounded by violence for as long as he can remember, Ryoudo Numata has steeled himself into a tremendously tough man, growing to become the very essence of "manliness" himself in order to live his life in peace. When members of a yakuza clan set on fire to his house to facilitate a real estate transaction, Kumada murders them and gets jailed for it. 15 years later, finally free, he will now have to reconnect with his family who clearly are in disarray due his long absence and face the distrust of his children who know nothing of their father except that he had abandoned them.

Oyaji

2007

Oyaji poster
10.0

Surrounded by violence for as long as he can remember, Ryoudo Numata has steeled himself into a tremendously tough man, growing to become the very essence of "manliness" himself in order to live his life in peace. When members of a yakuza clan set on fire to his house to facilitate a real estate transaction, Kumada murders them and gets jailed for it. 15 years later, finally free, he will now have to reconnect with his family who clearly are in disarray due his long absence and face the distrust of his children who know nothing of their father except that he had abandoned them.

Oyaji

2007

Sensei poster
8.0

In one of the districts of Tokyo, an old school is planned to be torn down after the summer holidays. The only person who is seriously worried about this is the Japanese language teacher Nakajima. He decides to hold special additional classes for the lagging students during the summer holidays, which they will keep as a memento of the old school.

Sensei

1989