Takeshi Kaneshiro

Acting

Takeshi Kaneshiro

Born 1973-10-11 · Taipei, Taiwan

Takeshi Kaneshiro, born October 11, 1973, is a Taiwanese and Japanese actor of mixed heritage – his father is Ryukyuan and his mother is Taiwanese. He speaks Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese Hokkien and English. Known for his versatile roles in Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Japanese cinema, he gained international recognition for his performances in films like "Chungking Express" (1994), "Fallen Angels" (1995), and "House of Flying Daggers" (2004). In addition to his acting career, Kaneshiro has also released several music albums and has been involved in numerous commercial endorsements. Despite maintaining a relatively private personal life, his talent and enduring popularity have made him a prominent figure in Asian entertainment.

Acting credits

Chungking Express poster
8.0

Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant.

Chungking Express

1994

Fallen Angels poster
7.7

An indifferent hitman, his infatuated business partner and an ex-convict search for love and meaning as their lives cross paths in Hong Kong.

Fallen Angels

1995

House of Flying Daggers poster
7.3

In 9th century China, a corrupt government wages war against a rebel army called the Flying Daggers. A romantic warrior breaks a beautiful rebel out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.

House of Flying Daggers

2004

Red Cliff poster
7.1

In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance.

Red Cliff

2008

Dragon poster
6.9

A sinful martial arts expert wants to start a new tranquil life, only to be hunted by a determined detective and his former master.

Dragon

2011

The Warlords poster
6.8

The civil war in China has ruined many lives including General Pang's. A wounded General Pang is saved by a beautiful young woman along with two other men. Together they vow to eradicate the rebels.

The Warlords

2007

Red Cliff II poster
7.3

The battle of Red Cliff continues and the alliance between Xu and East Wu is fracturing. With Cao Cao's massive forces on their doorstep, will the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu survive?

Red Cliff II

2009

Sons of the Neon Night poster
5.4

A massive explosion and shootout in snowy Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, reveals a pharmaceutical heir's plot. His father's death in hospital triggers a drug war, destabilizing both legitimate and criminal worlds.

Sons of the Neon Night

2025

Lost and Found poster
7.0

A woman diagnosed with leukemia meets a Chinese-Scottish sailor who she loses contact with. In order to find him she enlists Worm, a man who runs a “lost and found” business, and the two set out to find what she’s looking for.

Lost and Found

1996

Heroic Trio 2: Executioners poster
5.9

In a post-nuclear world, three superpowered women fight an evil genius controlling the government and the water supply.

Heroic Trio 2: Executioners

1993

Jail in Burning Island poster
5.5

A young police officer "makes a mess" of a police operation, shoots a man in self-defense, and ends up in prison. There he learns that the world isn't black and white, but has many shades of gray, and makes new friends and enemies.

Jail in Burning Island

1997

Hero poster
6.8

Ma Wing Jing and his older brother Ma Tai Chueng arrive in Shanghai to make their fortune at the end of the Qin Dynasty. Be-friending a powerful mobster Wing Jing is given his nightclub in return for saving Tam Sei's life. Unfortunately, another Gangster wants the territory a well. Corruption and violence rule the streets as Wing Jing and Tam Sei must battle not only the rival gangs but the corrupt police officials as well.

Hero

1997

The Crossing II poster
5.3

A story of three couples and their intertwining love stories set in 1940s Taiwan and Shanghai, centered around the 1949 sinking of Taiping.

The Crossing II

2015

Dr. Wai in the Scripture with No Words poster
5.8

A serial adventure writer with problems in his personal life lives out the adventures of his literary hero, King of Adventurers.

Dr. Wai in the Scripture with No Words

1996

Mermaid Got Married poster
5.7

A water-phobic teacher is saved by a mermaid and accidentally swallows her magical pearl, trapping her on land. She enrolls in his school to retrieve it, and they fall in love, but their romance is threatened when the school principal uncovers her secret.

Mermaid Got Married

1994

Confession of Pain poster
6.3

In a city of love and prosperity, a city of lost hope and premature death, veteran detective Hei feels it all: the hurt, the helplessness, the horror. When his father-in-law, the billionaire benefactor Kim, is gruesomely murdered in his palatial mansion, he enlists the assistance of his former partner turned private detective.

Confession of Pain

2006

The Wrath of Silence poster
6.4

A mortician seeks revenge against a serial killer who has murdered her sister. However, there is a case of mistaken identity and she begins to target her psychiatrist instead.

The Wrath of Silence

1994

Perhaps Love poster
6.7

A love triangle develops between the male and female leads and the director during the making of a musical in Mainland China.

Perhaps Love

2005

The Crossing I poster
5.5

At the end of the World War II and the middle of the Chinese Revolution, three couples from different backgrounds with different nationalities flee from China to the island of Taiwan.

The Crossing I

2014

See You Tomorrow poster
4.5

Chen Mo, a bar owner, listens to his customers' heartbreaks and helps them navigate their lives during their hard times while dealing with his own tragedy.

See You Tomorrow

2016

Returner poster
6.6

A young woman from the future forces a local gunman to help her stop an impending alien invasion which will wipe out the human race.

Returner

2002

Sleepless Town poster
7.4

Kenichi is a half-Japanese, half-Chinese man of the underworld. You can sell him anything except children's organs. His domain is in Kabukicho, a gangland controlled by various Shanghai gangs intent on taking control. His former partner-in-crime, Fu-Chun, is rumored to have returned to Kabukicho, having fled years earlier after killing the number two of gangland boss, Yuan. Yuan wants to get even and attempts to do so by using Kenichi.

Sleepless Town

1998

K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces poster
6.1

In an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened, the Japanese capital of Teito is home to both an ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called “The Kaijin (Fiend) with 20 Faces” (K-20 for short) begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20’s crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20’s next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.

K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces

2008

Lavender poster
6.3

A young woman is devastated after her fiance's death. She lives in isolation and her only daily treat is sending a balloon with a message to her late loved one. One day her life is changed when an angel with a broken wing lands on her balcony.

Lavender

2000