Hiroyuki Sanada, first-time Emmy nominee for his nuanced lead performance as the strategic and cunning Lord Toranaga in “ShÅgun,†is one of the most celebrated, prolific screen actors in the world.
5
Age when Sanada, now 63, began acting in Japanese films, appearing in “Game of Chance†(1966) as the son of a character played by martial arts star Sonny Chiba, a role model for Sanada’s subsequent career in …
1980s
... Japanese and Hong Kong action movies, in which Sanada starred while simultaneously building a reputation as a quietly magnetic character actor in Japanese movies and TV dramas.
3
Number of Japanese Academy Award nominations Sanada had received by age 35.
1998
Sanada expanded his international profile by playing a professor researching a creepy VHS tape in the horror film sensation “Ringu,†later remade in the U.S. as “The Ring.â€
2002
Year Sanada became an honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire after playing the Fool in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of “King Lear.â€
25
The “ShÅgun†nominations haul leads the Emmy pack. But Sanada is accustomed to big awards season numbers, after 2002’s “The Twilight Samurai†…
12
... received a dozen Japanese Academy Awards, including lead actor for Sanada’s moving performance as an impoverished widower struggling with his samurai duties.
5
post-“Twilight Samurai†Hollywood movies featuring Sanada have grossed at least $400 million worldwide, including “The Last Samurai†and “John Wick: Chapter 4.â€
2
Sanada is the second revered Japanese actor to score an Emmy nomination as Lord Toranaga in “ShÅgun.†Toshiro Mifune was nominated for the 1980 NBC miniseries.
6
But Sanada’s nearly six-decade career more closely resembles that of Jodie Foster, 61, a fellow child actor, college graduate and action star who also won a lead acting award as part of a juggernaut (“The Silence of the Lambsâ€) and …
1
... like Sanada, is favored to win in September on a first acting Emmy nomination (as limited series lead, “True Detective: Night Countryâ€).
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