Sonny Chiba

At 82 years old, Sonny Chiba physical status not available right now. We will update Sonny Chiba's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Shinichi Chiba (Japanese), Hepburn (Japanese), Chiba Shin'ichi, born January 22, 1939), also known as Sonny Chiba, is a Japanese actor, director, film producer, and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first celebrities to break into acting thanks to his martial arts abilities, initially in Japan and later in front of an international audience.

Early life

Chiba was born in Fukuoka, the third of five children. His father was a pilot with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service; his mother, who hails from Kumamoto Prefecture, competed in track and field in her youth. His father was transferred to Kisarazu, Chiba, when he was four years old, and the family moved to Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture.

The physical education teacher recommended that Chiba do artistic gymnastics after he went to junior high school in Kimitsu. He was also passionate about track and field sports, baseball, and volleyball. He competed in Chiba Prefecture's four sports championships. Chiba dedicated himself to artistic gymnastics in high school and took the National Sports Festival of Japan in his third year. Shane and High Noon are among his favorite movies to watch.

In 1957, Chiba graduated from Nippon Sport Science University. He was a strong candidate for a spot in the Japanese Olympic team in his late teens until he was forced to return from his service due to a back injury. While a student, he began studying martial arts with Kutatsu "Mas" Oyama, who later appeared in a trilogy of films), resulting in a first-degree black belt on October 15, 1965, and a fourth-degree on January 20, 1984.

Personal life

Chiba divorced his first wife, actress Yko Nogiwa, with whom he had a child, Juri Manase, who is also an actor. He had two sons from his second marriage to Tamami Chiba. Mackenyu Arata (Arata Makken'ya), Gordon Maeda (), and Gordon Maeda () are actors.

Jiro Yabuki (also known as Jiro Chiba) was also an actor.

Chiba became ill with COVID-19 in early August 2021. He was initially treated at home, but he was hospitalized a few days later on August 8th, where he discovered pneumonia for the first time. He died of COVID-19-related diseases on August 19, 2021, at the age of 82. According to his department, Chiba had not been vaccinated. On August 20, 2021, his body was cremated at the crematorium.

Source

Career

He was discovered in a talent hunt (called "New Face") by the Toei film studio sometime around 1960 and began his film career right away. At the time, Toei's CEO gave him the stage name "Shinichi Chiba."

He began acting on television, appearing in two tokusatsu superhero films, first replacing Susumu Wajima as the main character Karma-Shinden in the second half of the series and then as the king of Allah in Messenger of Allah. In 1961 science fiction film Invasion of the Neptune Men, his first film appearance and first starring role was in Invasion of the Neptune Men. Chiba appeared in the first Kinji Fukasaku film, Drifting Detective: Tragedy in the Red Valley in the first year, which marked the start of a long line of collaborations for the two characters. He appeared mainly in crime thrillers over the past decade. Chiba's JAC (Japan Action Club), an emerging martial arts film actor and stunt performer, had established his own training center by 1970 in order to improve the level of martial arts techniques and sequences used in Japanese film and television. Today the company is known as Japan Action Enterprise (JAE). In 1973, he appeared in Karate Kiba (Bodyguard Kiba), his first martial arts film. The Street Fighter (1974) Chiba's breakthrough international hit, which was brought to Western audiences (dubbed in English) by New Line Cinema. The film and its sequels established him as the best-known Japanese martial arts actor in international cinema for the next two decades. From that point on, it was New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye who gave Chiba the English word "Sonny," which Chiba would adopt as his own (mainly for non-Japanese projects).

The Bullet Train (1975), Karate Warriors (1976), Doberman Cop (1977), Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977), and The Assassin (1977). In films such as Message from Space (1978), he has also returned to the science fiction genre on occasion. He began to appear in some jidaigeki such as Shogun's Samurai (1978). G.I. Samurai (1979), Shadow Warriors (1980), and Samurai Reincarnation (1981). He was not only actor in G.I. but also stunt coordinator. Samurai, Burning Brave (1981), and Shogun's Shadow (1989). He was executive producer and director of Yellow Fangs (1990) and he appeared and appeared in Oyaji (2007).

J.be Mitsuyoshi appeared in numerous films, including in the 1978 film Shogun's Samurai and the 1980 film The Yagyu Conspiracy, which aired from 1978 to 1979. He then appeared as Jawai in Yagyu Abaretabi, which aired from 1980 to 1981, as well as its 1981 film Samurai Reincarnation (Makai Tensho) and its dramatic musical version Yagyu Jubei Makai Tensho. In the second season of Yagy Abaretabi, this time referred to as Jbe Abaretabi, which aired from 1982 to 1983, he reprised his role as Jbei. He returned to play Jbei in Iemitsu, Hikoza, and Isshin Tasuke: A National Crisis, a television movie that premiered in 1989. In 2005, his last appearance as J.B. was in two direct-to-DVD films entitled Sarutobi Sasuke and the Army of Darkness 3: Wind Chapter and Sarutobi Sasuke and the Army of Darkness 4: Fire Chapter. Hattori Hanz III, Tsuge Shinpachi, Tarao Hanz, and Hattori Hanz were among Chiba's most notable television performances, as well as Hattori Hanz' III in the 2003 direct-to-DVD sequel Shin Kage no Gundan (New Shadow Warriors).

Chiba was even busier in the 1980s, with hundreds of films, as well as introducing television to television, and appearing in such popular Hong Kong comic-based film The Storm Riders (1998), starring Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok. He made his name in Japan in the 1990s unabated.

In his fifties, the actor revived his work as a choreographer of martial arts sequences. Chiba was as active as ever in feature films and also appeared in his own film in Japan at the turn of the 21st century. In Takashi Miike's Deadly Outlaw, Roles in Battle Royale II bridged the gap between modern day and yesteryear cinematic cult legends. In director Quentin Tarantino's bloody revenge epic Kill Bill: Volume I in 2003, Chiba's enduring onscreen career was lauded. Hattori Hanzo, the operator of a sushi restaurant and a retired samurai sword craftsman, received a special mention.

Chiba appeared in more than 125 films for Toei Studios and has received numerous awards in Japan for his acting.

Source