Japanese-American celebrities

Anna Akana was born on 18 August 1989 in Monterey, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Jupiter's Legacy (2021), Let It Snow (2019) and Ant-Man (2015).

Born in New York but raised in California, Devon Aoki is no stranger to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Her father is former Olympic wrestler and Benihana restaurant magnate Rocky Aoki and her mother is Pamela Hilburger, a jewelry designer. Devon is of Japanese (from her father) and German and English (from her mother) ancestry. She started modeling when she was 13, the same year her godmother introduced her to modeling legend Kate Moss. She is now the face of Lancome and is one of the top earners at her agency, Women.

Gregg Araki was born on 17 December 1959 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Mysterious Skin (2004), White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) and Kaboom (2010).

Strikingly beautiful Asian actress who made a solid impression as the effortlessly sexy, highly capable associate producer on the acclaimed series Sports Night (1998). She has also appeared in such films as Exit to Eden (1994) and Basic Instinct (1992). She married Robert Check at the Sniffen Farm in Kohala, Hawaii, on Sept. 28, 2002. The couple reside in El Segundo, California.

Dean Cain was born Dean George Tanaka in Mount Clemens, Michigan, to actress Sharon Thomas Cain and Roger Tanaka. His mother married his adoptive father, director Christopher Cain, when Dean was three. Though he grew up in Malibu and attended Santa Monica High School, his career plans favored professional football over acting. While at Princeton, he completed a history major, dated Brooke Shields for two years, and set a Princeton record for interceptions in a season (12). After signing with the Buffalo Bills, a knee injury ended his pro career before it began. Though he had already played a part in his father's The Stone Boy (1984), he went through the usual route of commercials and tv-parts (notably, Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) in 1990) before landing his break-through role as Superman/Clark Kent in the series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993).

Maya Erskine was born on 7 May 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for PEN15 (2019), Blue Eye Samurai (2023) and Wine Country (2019). She is married to Michael Angarano. They have two children.

John Fujioka was born on 29 June 1925 in Olaa, Hawaii, USA. He was an actor, known for Mortal Kombat (1995), American Ninja (1985) and Pearl Harbor (2001). He died on 13 December 2018 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Karen Fukuhara is a Japanese-American actress from Los Angeles, California. She is fluent in English and Japanese. While attending UCLA, she continued to work on numerous shows in Japan, notably the Disney Channel. She is a martial arts champion, trained in karate and sword fighting. She made her film debut as the sword wielding superhero, Katana, in Suicide Squad (2016). She is represented by UTA.

Kimiko Elizabeth Glenn was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ, where she grew up with her sister Amanda, and parents Mark and Sumiko. She started doing theater when she was ten years old at Valley Youth Theatre and there, began developing her love for performing.

Halfway through her freshman year of college at the Boston Conservatory, she was cast in the 1st National Tour of Spring Awakening. After touring for two years, she finally settled her life in New York.

Since then, she starred as the title role in La Jolla Playhouse's "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", directed by Des McAnuff; and played the bratty Princess Ssu-Ming in the Playhouse's production of "The Nightingale", directed by Moisés Kaufman. She was honored to perform at the Delacorte Theater for Shakespeare in the Park, in The Public's "Love's Labour's Lost", directed by Alex Timbers. She had a blast originating the role of Emily in the Off-Broadway production of Julianne Moore's Freckleface Strawberry and is proud of the many exciting projects she has been a part of. Favorites include: Behind the Painting written by Maltby & Shire; Plop, written by Bare's Damon Intrabartolo; Yeast Nation from the creators of Urintetown at the NY Fringe festival '11; Crossing Over as part of the National Asian Artists' Project; and the staged reading of Cheer Wars -- her very first New York job.

Kimiko has also appeared in feature films Construction (2021); Nous York (2012); and Hair Brained (2013) starring Brendan Fraser & Parker Posey; and the movie-musical short, Galaxy Comics, by director Kevin McMullin. You may have seen her in the 2011 Disney/ABC Diversity Showcase directed by Ted Sluberski and Joe Ward. She was thrilled to shoot NBCUniversal's half-hour comedy pilot Holding Patterns; and will be joining the cast of Orange Is the New Black (2013), a Netflix series, as Brook Soso.

Born in Walnut Creek, California, Alice Greczyn grew up mainly in the mid-west until finally landing in Colorado. She had no idea that she would stumble into life as an actress. Starring in television shows and films had not even crossed her mind. Instead, her childhood goal was to compete as a figure skater. As she got a little older her focus shifted to more humanitarian purposes, which led her to attend college with plans of being a nurse or paramedic. That all changed when Greczyn was approached by a talent manager in Colorado, who then set her career in motion. Greczyn spends most of her off time traveling, whether it's to visit with family or visit places as far as Mongolia. Her true passion is cooking and exploring other cultures. Greczyn's stunning exotic beauty stems from a unique European-Asian blend of ethnicity.

Sessue Hayakawa was born in Chiba, Japan. His father was the provincial governor and his mother a member of an aristocratic family of the "samurai" class. The young Hayakawa wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a career officer in the Japanese navy, but he was turned down due to problems with his hearing. The disappointed Hayakawa decided to make his career on the stage. He joined a Japanese theatrical company that eventually toured the United States in 1913. Pioneering film producer Thomas H. Ince spotted him and offered him a movie contract. Roles in The Wrath of the Gods (1914) and The Typhoon (1914) turned Hayakawa into an overnight success. The first Asian-American star of the American screen was born.

He married actress Tsuru Aoki on May 1, 1914. The next year his appearance in Cecil B. DeMille's sexploitation picture The Cheat (1915) made Hayakawa a silent-screen superstar. He played an ivory merchant who has an affair with the Caucasian Fannie Ward, and audiences were "scandalized" when he branded her as a symbol of her submission to their passion. The movie was a blockbuster for Famous Players-Lasky (later Paramount), turning Hayakawa into a romantic idol for millions of American women, regardless of their race. However, there were objections and outrage from racists of all stripes, especially those who were opposed to miscegenation (sexual contact between those of different races). Also outraged was the Japanese-American community, which was dismayed by DeMille's unsympathetic portrayal of a member of their race. The Japanese-American community protested the film and attempted to have it banned when it was re-released in 1918.

The popularity of Hayakawa rivaled that of Caucasian male movie stars in the decade of the 1910s, and he became one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood. He made his career in melodramas, playing romantic heroes and charismatic heavies. He co-starred with the biggest female stars in Hollywood, all of whom were, of course, Caucasian. His pictures often co-starred Jack Holt as his Caucasian rival for the love of the white heroine (Holt would later become a top action star in the 1920s),

Hayakawa left Famous Players-Lasky to go independent, setting up his own production company, Haworth Pictures Corp. Through the end of the decade Haworth produced Asian-themed films starring Hayakawa and wife Tsuru Aoki that proved very popular. These movies elucidated the immigrant's desire to "cross over" or assimilate into society at large and pursue the "American Dream" in a society free of racial intolerance. Sadly, most of these films are now lost.

With the dawn of a new decade came a rise in anti-Asian sentiment, particularly over the issue of immigration due to the post-World War I economic slump. Hayakawa's films began to perform poorly at the box office, bringing his first American movie career to an end in 1922. He moved to Japan but was unable to get a career going. Relocating to France, he starred in La bataille (1923), a popular melodrama spiced with martial arts. He made Sen Yan's Devotion (1924) and The Great Prince Shan (1924) in the UK.

In 1931 Hayakawa returned to Hollywood to make his talking-picture debut in support of Anna May Wong in Daughter of the Dragon (1931). Sound revealed that he had a heavy accent, and his acting got poor reviews. He returned to Japan before once again going to France, where he made the geisha melodrama Yoshiwara (1937) for director Max Ophüls. He also appeared in a remake of "The Cheat" called Forfaiture (1937), playing the same role that over 20 year earlier had made him one of the biggest stars in the world.

After the Second World War he took a third stab at Hollywood. In 1949 he relaunched g himself as a character actor with Tokyo Joe (1949) in support of Humphrey Bogart, and Three Came Home (1950) with Claudette Colbert. Hayakawa reached the apex of this, his third career, with his role as the martinet POW camp commandant in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), which brought him an Academy Award nomination for Best Suporting Actor. His performance as Col. Saito was essential to the success of David Lean's film, built as it was around the battle of wills between Hayakawa's commandant and Alec Guinness' Col. Nicholson, head of the Allied POWs. The film won the Best Picture Academy Award, while Lean and Guiness also were rewarded with Oscars.

Hayakawa continued to act in movies regularly until his retirement in 1966. He returned to Japan, becoming a Zen Buddhist priest while remaining involved in his craft by giving private acting lessons.

Ninety years after achieving stardom, he remains one of the few Asians to assume superstar status in American motion pictures.

Kiralee Hayashi is known for The Boys (2019), Preacher (2016) and Twisters (2024).

Marc Hayashi is known for The Karate Kid Part II (1986), Remington Steele (1982) and Falcon Crest (1981).

Ryan Higa was born in Hilo, Hawaii, USA, is an actor and writer, known for Ninja Melk (2009), Agents of Secret Stuff (2010), The Last Skitzo! (2015) and featured in Tell Me How I Die (2016). Also known for his YouTube channel 'nigahiga' with 23.7 million subscribers. He graduated from Waiakea High School in 2008.

Jeff Imada was born and raised in Inglewood, California, USA, where he began studying martial arts at the age of fifteen. At El Camino College and UCLA, he majored in pre-med and minored in music. While in college, he started working as a movie "extra," which led to his becoming a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Stunts Unlimited and the Directors Guild of America. Jeff Imada also had been technical advisor on numerous films, including Dutch (1991), Tango & Cash (1989), Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), Dreamscape (1984), and Streets of Fire (1984), and such television series as Magnum, P.I. (1980), Remington Steele (1982), Dynasty (1981), Matt Houston (1982), Airwolf (1984), Stingray (1986), Hart to Hart (1979) and Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982).

Electronics wizard Grant Imahara has been behind the scenes of many top Hollywood films for years. An expert at animatronics, his skills were used extensively at George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic, where his talent was demonstrated on various features including the Matrix sequels, the three Star Wars prequels, Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), and the hit Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). Grant was one of only a few people to have the privilege to operate R2-D2. He continued to use his skills in front of the camera on the Discovery Channel show MythBusters (2003) team. Fans have embraced his talent, unique skills, and sense of humor.

Imamura graduated from Texas Christian with a degree in finance and later pursued an MBA at Colorado State. He began his coaching career in 1997 at his alma mater, Texas Christian, as a defensive assistant, supporting the Horned Frogs' defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator. Prior to entering the NFL, Imamura spent seven seasons on the college level, including 2003 as the outside linebackers' coach at Saginaw Valley State. Prior to Saginaw Valley State, Imamura had a three-year stint from 2000-02 at Northern Arizona coaching the defensive line. Imamura spent eight seasons from 2006-13 with the Minnesota Vikings, where he assisted with the secondary for two years and linebackers for six years. Also prior to Carolina, Imamura worked as a defensive assistant with the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams for two seasons, assisting with linebackers in 2016 and defensive backs in 2015. 2018 is Jeff Imamura's second season with the Panthers as assistant secondary coach in charge of cornerbacks and nickelbacks. Imamura has 11 years of NFL coaching experience.

Carrie Ann Inaba was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. She is of Japanese, Chinese, and Irish ancestry, and is the youngest of two children. Carrie Ann grew up dancing the hula (native Hawaiian dance) and other dance forms. She also played the piano and violin and sang in the choir. She attended Hanahaouli School and then Punahou School. Carrie Ann played volleyball for a little while but found her true love in performing.

At the age of 16, she and her closest friend Tina Horii won the Hawaii statewide competition, "Search for Talent", dancing a piece that they had choreographed together. While still sixteen, Carrie Ann was scouted to go to Japan to become a "Teen Idol".

However, she waited until she finished high school and then left Hawaii to pursue her career as a musical artist in Japan. During her time in Japan, Carrie Ann released three singles with Pony Canyon Records while attending Sophia University, a Jesuit university in Tokyo. In the two-year period spent living in Tokyo, Japan, she learned a great deal about the entertainment industry, performing, as well as the Japanese language. She also made great friends from all over the world, which later became a theme in her life as a documentarian.

After realizing that the Tokyo lifestyle wasn't for her at the time, Carrie Ann returned to the United States, relocating to California. She began to study choreography at the University of California, Irvine. It wasn't long till she got the bug to dance in Los Angeles and moved up to study with Alex Magno at the Debbie Reynolds Studios in North Hollywood, California. One day in dance class, Carrie Ann was approached by a producer who asked her to be in a music video for an artist named Terry Lin. She met the choreographer and booked the job. She was ready to start working.

One of her first jobs was as a dancer for the Emmy Award-winning television show, In Living Color (1990). Her next big gig was performing with Madonna, being featured as the "Pole Girl" on The Girlie Show tour. For this tour, Carrie Ann had to shave her head and also train with circus trainers and a stripper. She later went on to dance with Ricky Martin, David Copperfield, Chayanne, and did a lot of appearances on shows such as The Creative Arts Emmys, The SAG Awards, The NAACP Awards, The MTV Awards, The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986), and so much more. To this day, she still loves to dance. In her heart of hearts, it is the movement and the music that will always inspire her as an artist. In fact, even as an actress, she likes to incorporate dance and movement.

When Carrie Ann began her acting career, her main interest was in action roles. She studied tae kwon do with Billy Blanks, the creator Taebo, and continues her education in martial arts. She also practices hatha yoga. Carrie Ann always looks for ways to include her background in movement (choreography and martial arts) into her career.

Besides performing, Carrie Ann has many credits behind the scenes as well. Besides her choreography, she opened up her own digital video production company, EnterMediArts, Inc., which produced two of her documentaries and her short film. She hopes that EnterMediArts, Inc. will soon produce more reality/education television programming, behind-the-scenes DVD productions as well as lower-end film projects. She is the president and CEO for the company and has directed and edited most of her own projects. She loves the entertainment industry and loves the accessibility that DV (Digital Video) provides. She invested in a few edit bays and a few cameras and produces projects for fellow artists and "creatives." As her company's name implies, Carrie Ann likes to break down barriers and combine elements, creating hybrids just like she, herself, is a combination of cultures. Her production company, EnterMediArts, Inc., gets its name from Entertainment, Media, and the Arts -- all rolled into one.

Carrie Ann has also modeled here and there and has been on the cover of European magazines and Japanese magazines. She was the national spokesmodel for an AT&T Asian Campaign and has been in many commercials throughout her career.

At the time of this writing, Carrie Ann is in the limelight once more for her participation in the hit show, Dancing with the Stars (2005) and Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (2008).

Jim Ishida was born on 29 July 1943 in Tokyo, Japan. He is an actor, known for Back to the Future Part II (1989), Predator 2 (1990) and Armageddon (1998). He is married to Margaret.

Brittany Ishibashi was born in Orange, California, USA. Brittany is an actor, known for Grace and Frankie (2015), Runaways (2017) and The Office (2005). Brittany has been married to Jeff Horowitz since 29 May 2011. They have one child.

Dale Ishimoto was born on 3 April 1923 in Delta, Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), King Rat (1965) and Kung Fu (1972). He was married to Miiko Taka. He died on 4 March 2004 in Culver City, California, USA.

Yuna Ito was born on 20 September 1983 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Nana (2005), Yuna Ito: Precious (2006) and Nana 2 (2006).

Danny Kamekona was born on 15 November 1935 in Hilo, Hawaii, USA. He was an actor, known for The Karate Kid Part II (1986), Problem Child (1990) and Robot Jox (1989). He was married to Michiko. He died on 2 May 1996 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Micah Karns is known for Black Panther (2018), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).

Janice Kawaye is a Japanese-American actress from Los Angeles, California. She had a minor role in Night of the Comet before voicing Gi in Captain Planet and the Planeteers. She voiced in several cartoons and games such as Jenny Wakeman and Tammy in My Life as a Teenage Robot, Ami Onuki and Tekirai in Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Ayane in Ninja Gaiden, Sara in Invader Zim, Little Robot in Bump in the Night, and Numbuh 83 and Numbuh 84 in Codename: Kids Next Door. She is the most prolific Japanese-American voice actress in the industry. She speaks both English and Japanese, which is demonstrated in episodes of My Life as a Teenage Robot, Bump in the Night and Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.