Kane Kosugi
Kane Takeshi Kosugi is an American martial artist, actor, and media personality of direct Japanese and Chinese descent.
The son of martial arts film star Sho Kosugi, Kane began his career as a child actor starring opposite his father in films like Revenge of the Ninja and Pray for Death. He first gained recognition in Japan for his starring role as Jiraiya in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, bring the first American-born sentai senshi. He has appeared in over 30 films and television series, including the video game adaptations and Street Fighter Alpha. He competed on five seasons of the obstacle challenge program Sasuke, where he was the first American competitor.
Like his father, Kosugi has appeared in both Japanese and American media. In Japan, Kane is considered gaijin tarento due to his Nisei foreign born heritage.
Acting career
Since 1983, Kosugi has appeared in various roles as a voice actor for video games, stunt actor in movies and character actor in both English language and Japanese language films. His first movie, Revenge of the Ninja, had him playing the son of his real life father, Sho Kosugi. Kane kept his real name in the movie. He has also been in other movies starring his father as well. With the intention of following in his father's footsteps, Kane trained to become a martial arts actor. Kane has an extensive martial arts background in wushu, ninjutsu, taekwondo, karate, judo and kendo.He made his Japanese acting debut in the 1993 television series Ryūkyū no Kaze, the 31st entry in NHK's long-running taiga drama series. Kane followed this up with his first lead film role in the two-part Toei V-Cinema movies Za Kakuto Oh and Za Kakuto Oh 2 directed by his father. Next came the 1994 television series Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, an installment in Toei's Super Sentai franchise. Kane was the only American-born cast member of Kakuranger and his character spoke almost exclusively in English during his first few episodes.
He could be seen regularly on the NHK children's program Karada de Asobo, which was a weekday exercise show that ran until March 2010. He also does commercial spots for vitamin drinks and regularly appears on a physical challenge show called Kinniku Oukoku, formerly known as Kinniku Banzuke. He had a brief role as a Yakuza member in the action-thriller, War, with Jason Statham and Jet Li.
Kane then began to work in China and Hong Kong. He played Ryu Hayabusa, a master Ninja in the live action adaptation of the video game ', directed by Corey Yuen. He would play the lead villain in Coweb, the directorial debut of Xiong Xin Xin and the lead role debut of Jiang Lui Xia. In 2011, he appeared alongside real-life best friend Sammy Hung and Sammy's father, Sammo Hung in Choy Lee Fut.
In 2013, Kane played the lead villain Nakamura in the film opposite Scott Adkins. The two reunited on the film Zero Tolerance. Kane would also play the character of Kazuya Mishima in the prequel ' in 2014. In 2016, Kane played "God Lee" in the Takashi Miike-directed adaptation of manga and anime Terra Formars. He went to China to play a disfigured assassin in the straight to streaming action-horror film Heaven Inspector, followed by a role as "The Rider" in the recently released film The Driver opposite Mark Dacascos. He is set to reunite with Dacascos on One Night in Bangkok while another film he shot, Maxx, is currently in post-production.
''Sportsman No. 1''
From 1997 to 2004, Kane participated in the Japanese physical competition program Sportsman No.1 Decisive Battle, competing first against other celebrities and then against professional athletes, achieving unparalleled success winning a record 6 tournaments and finishing second in 4 others.| Tournament | Airdate | Result | Points |
| Celebrity Survival Battle #2 | 1997.04.02 | 560 points | |
| Celebrity Survival Battle #3 | 1998.04.01 | 950 points | |
| Celebrity Survival Battle #4 | 1998.10.02 | 810 points | |
| Pro Sportsman Tournament #5 | 1999.01.01 | 300 points | |
| Celebrity Survival Battle #5 | 1999.03.26 | 615 points | |
| Pro Sportsman Tournament #6 | 2000.01.01 | 385 points | |
| Celebrity Survival Battle #6 | 2000.03.24 | 685 points | |
| Celebrity Survival Battle #7 | 2000.10.10 -14 | 446 points | |
| Pro Sportsman Tournament #7 | 2001.01.01 | 455 points | |
| Celebrity Survival Battle #8 | 2001.03.23 | 613 points | |
| Pro Sportsman Tournament #8 | 2002.01.01 | 540 points | |
| Pro Sportsman Tournament #10 | 2004.01.01 | 350 points |
''Sasuke''
Kane competed on Kinniku Banzuke/Oukoku's special show Sasuke for several years. Thus far he is one of only four foreigners, and the only American, to make it to the Final Stage in SASUKE, out of 3,700 total competitors to date and twenty-seven different Final Stage competitors. Despite his strong performances, #98 is the highest number he has ever worn.He stopped participating after the 8th competition. Around the time of SASUKE 11, in an interview with the Kinniku Banzuke successor, Taiku Ookoku, he said, "私は訓練に時間があれば、私は競争したいと思います。", which roughly translates to, "If I have time to train, I would like to compete." Kane is still the only competitor to compete five times without failing the first stage. He was the first competitor to beat the Spider Climb in the final stage, doing so in Sasuke 8.
Here is a table of information of his participation in Sasuke.
| Competition | Airdate | Competitor # | Stage | Obstacle |
| SASUKE 1 | 1997.09.27 | 89 | Third | Failed Pole Bridge |
| SASUKE 4 | 1999.10.16 | 97 | Third | Failed Cliff Hanger |
| SASUKE 6 | 2000.09.09 | 98 | Third | Failed Body Prop |
| SASUKE 7 | 2001.03.17 | 98 | Second | Failed Spider Walk |
| SASUKE 8 | 2001.09.29 | 91 | Final | Failed Final Rope |