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| Birth Name(s) : Sonny Chiba |
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Full Sonny Chiba Biography
Shinichi Chiba (千葉 真一, Chiba Shin'ichi?), also known as Sonny Chiba (born January 23, 1939 in Fukuoka, Japan) is a Japanese actor. 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 Sadaho Maeda (前田 禎穂, Maeda Sadaho?) he was the second of five children in the family of a military test pilot.
As a boy, he manifested an interest in both theater and gymnastics, and he was serious enough about the latter to earn a place on the Japanese Olympic team in his late teens until he was sidelined by a back injury. While he was a university student, he began studying martial arts with the renowned World Karate Grand Master Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama (who he later played in a trilogy of films), leading to his becoming a first degree black belt.
By 1970, he had started his own training school for actors aspiring to work in martial arts films, and, in 1973, in the wake of the international craze for such films started by Bruce Lee, he returned to the screen himself as an actor. Chiba's breakthrough international hit was The Street Fighter (1974), which established him as the reigning Japanese martial arts actor in international cinema for the next two decades.
In his 50s, the actor resumed working under the name Shinichi Chiba when he served as a choreographer of martial arts sequences. At the dawn of the 21st century, Chiba was as busy as ever in feature films and also starring in his own series in Japan.
Roles in Takashi Miike's Deadly Outlaw: Rekka and directors Kenta and Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale II effectively bridged the gap between modern day and yesteryear cinematic cult legends, Chiba's enduring onscreen career received a fitting tribute when he appeared in a key role in director Quentin Tarantino's bloody revenge epic Kill Bill in 2003.
Sonny Chiba has starred in more than 125 films for Toei Studios and has won numerous awards in Japan for his acting.
He currently lives in Yokohama, Japan, is divorced from his first wife, Yoko Nogiwa and is remarried with a new son, born in 1996. He is the father of actress Julie Manase. His younger brother, Jirō Yabuki, was also an actor, and now lives with his family in rural Japan.
In November of 2007, he announced the retirement of the stage name Shinichi Chiba and will now be known (in Japan) as J.J. Sonny Chiba (ＪＪサニー千葉) as an actor and Rindō Wachinaga ('千永倫道) as a director.
In addition to his acting ability, Chiba also has black belts in the following martial arts:
- Ninjutsu - 4th Dan
- Goju-ryu karate - 2nd Dan
- Judo - 2nd Dan
- Kendo - 1st Dan
- Shorinji Kempo - 1st Dan
- Kyokushin karate - 1st Dan
- Japan Action Club (JAC) - Founder
- This organization aims to develop and raise the level of martial arts techniques and sequences used in Japanese film and television. |
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