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Sato Takeru (Kanji: 佐藤 健; Satō Takeru; born March 21, 1989) is a Japanese actor. He is best known for his leading role as Ryotaro Nogami in the Kamen Rider Den-O franchise, and as Himura Kenshin in the live-action Rurouni Kenshin film and its sequels.
Early and personal life[]
Sato was born on 21 March 1989 in Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama. He has a younger sister; his parents divorced when he was in middle school. He played baseball during primary and middle school years, and has a black belt in Shorinji Kempo. Sato briefly worked as a child actor for 3 or 4 years, appearing in commercials and magazine photo shoots. After entered higher grades in elementary school, he decided not to continue as a child actor due to a "shy personality". He graduated from Koshigaya Kita High School, Saitama in 2007. In the same year, while shooting Kamen Rider Den-O, he was diagnosed with primary Pneumothorax after complaining about pain in the left chest, and has since recovered. He celebrated his 20th birthday (a significant Coming of Age Day for Japanese youths) with a festival in Odaiba in Tokyo, called "Takeru Festival 2009".
Career[]
2006-2008: Early career[]
Sato was scouted by an agent from Amuse, Inc. in Harajuku in Tokyo when he was in senior high school, and made his debut in 2006. His first drama was Princess Princess D (TV Asahi) where he played the role of Toru Kouno. In 2007, he guest-starred in Shinigami no Ballad (Kentarō Ishihara) and gained popularity in the seventeenth installment of the Kamen Rider series as Ryotaro Nogami. Sato attributes the popularity of Den-O to its comedic timing.
2009-2011: Breakthrough[]
Following the success and popularity of Kamen Rider Den-O and its two further cinematic releases, in the spring of 2008, Satoh starred in the award-winning TBS drama Rookies as Yuya Okada, one member of a high school baseball club consisting of a group of delinquents. Satoh considers his role in Rookies to be his breakout role even though he only played a minor supporting role, as Rookies was shown on prime time television and able to reach a much larger audience than any of his previous works. Satoh also starred in the live-action in the summer of 2009.
Sato reprised his role as Ryotaro (Den-O) in the third film of Kamen Rider Den-O in October 2008. He also starred in the drama Bloody Monday, based on the manga with the same name. He played Otoya Kujo, the best friend of main protagonist Fujimaru Takagi, who is played by fellow Amuse member and real life good friend Haruma Miura.
In the following two years, Sato starred or guest-starred in TV shows such as Mei-chan no Shitsuji, Mr. Brain, True Horror Stories and MW Dai-0-sho, and in films such as Goemon and Beck. In 2010, he played Okada Izō in his first Taiga drama Ryōmaden, and landed his first leading role on prime time television with teen drama Q10.
On 28 June 2011, he was confirmed to star as Himura Kenshin in a live action film adaptation of the manga series Rurouni Kenshin.
2012—present: Rurouni Kenshin, its movie sequels and career expansion[]
Released in August 2012, the film grossed a total of 3.01 billion yen at the domestic box office. Sato made his stage debut as Romeo in the Japanese adaptation of Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet in May 2012.
His subsequent project Tonbi was a drama series based on a novel by Shigematsu Kiyoshi. He then starred in Real, a science fiction mystery movie directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, as well as The Liar and His Lover, a live-adaptation film based on the manga Kanojo wa Uso o Aishisugiteru.
In 2014, Sato played the role of a rookie detective in Fuji TV's Bitter Blood. He reprised the role of Himura Kenshin in two sequel films of Rurouni Kenshin live action franchise, Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends, both of which were released in 2014. Rurouni Kenshin manga author Nobuhiro Watsuki praised Sato's performance and called him the ideal actor to portray Kenshin. He, alongside Rurouni Kenshin co-stars Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki, and director Keishi Otomo was appointed as "Cultural Friendship Ambassador" to the Philippines by the Makati City council on 7 August 2014.
Riding upon his movie success, he made his TV return with the acclaimed TBS series The Emperor's Cook in early 2015. He followed up with 3 Toho Corporation films in 2015 and 2016 including the manga live adaptation Bakuman and light novel adaptation If Cats Disappeared from the World, as well as Somebody. His role in the 2017 film The 8-Year Engagement earned him a nomination for best actor at the 41st Japan Academy Prize. In 2018, he starred in two award-winning television series: NHK Asadora Hanbun, Aoi and TBS series Blues of Stepmother and Daughter. In the same year he reprised the role of Ryotaro Nogami in the last Kamen Rider movie of the Heisei period.
In 2018 it was announced that the Rurouni Kenshin series will get two further installments, a prequel and a sequel to the original trilogy with Satoh reprising his lead role. Principal photography wrapped in late June and the movies will be screened in 2020.
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Kamen Rider Den-O: I'm Born! | Ryotaro Nogami | Takao Nagaishi | Lead |
| 2008 | Kamen Rider Den-O & Kiva: Climax Deka | Osamu Kaneda | Lead | |
| Saraba Kamen Rider Den-O: Final Countdown | Special appearance | |||
| 2009 | Goemon | Young Saizou Kirigakure | Kazuaki Kiriya | |
| Rookies: Graduation | Yuya Okada | Yūichirō Hirakawa | ||
| 2010 | Trick The Movie: Psychic Battle Royale | Shohei Nakamori | Yukihiko Tsutsumi | |
| Beck | Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka | |||
| 2012 | Rurouni Kenshin | Kenshin Himura | Keishi Ōtomo | Lead |
| 2013 | Real | Koichi Fujita | Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Lead |
| The Liar and His Lover | Aki Ogasawara | Norihiro Koizumi | Lead | |
| 2014 | Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno | Kenshin Himura | Keishi Ōtomo | Lead |
| Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends | ||||
| 2015 | Bakuman | Moritaka Mashiro | Hitoshi Ōne | Lead |
| 2016 | If Cats Disappeared from the World | Postman / Devil | Akira Nagai | Lead |
| Somebody | Takuto Ninomiya | Daisuke Miura | Lead | |
| 2017 | Ajin: Demi-Human | Kei Nagai | Katsuyuki Motohiro | Lead |
| The 8-Year Engagement | Hisashi | Takahisa Zeze | Lead | |
| 2018 | Inuyashiki | Hiro Shishigami | Shinsuke Sato | |
| Hardcore | Sakon Gondō | Nobuhiro Yamashita | ||
| Million Dollar Man | Kazuo | Keishi Ōtomo | Lead | |
| Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever | Ryotaro Nogami | Kyōhei Yamaguchi | ||
| 2019 | Samurai Marathon | Karasawa Jin'nai | Bernard Rose | Lead |
| One Night | Yūji | Kazuya Shiraishi | Lead | |
| Dragon Quest: Your Story | Ruka (voice) | Takashi Yamazaki | Lead | |
| 2020 | Rurouni Kenshin: The Final Chapter – Part 1 | Kenshin Himura | Keishi Ōtomo | Lead |
| Rurouni Kenshin: The Final Chapter – Part 2 |
Dramas[]
| Year | Title | Role | Network | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Princess Princess D | Toru Kono | TV Asahi | |
| 2007 | Shinigami no Ballad | Kantarō Ichihara | TV Tokyo | Guest Star, Episodes 7, 8, & 11 |
| Kamen Rider Den-O | Ryotaro Nogami | TV Asahi | Lead | |
| 2008 | Rookies | Yuuya Okada | TBS | |
| Bloody Monday | Otoya Kujo | TBS | ||
| 2009 | Mei-chan no Shitsuji | Kento Shibata | Fuji TV | |
| Mr. Brain | Masaru Nakagawa | TBS | Guest Star, Episodes 4 & 5 | |
| MW Chapter 0: Akuma no Game | Takashi Morioka | NTV | Lead | |
| Honto ni Atta Kowai Hanashi | Fujisawa Shotaro | Fuji TV | Guest Star, Episode 5: Kao no Michi | |
| 2010 | Ryōmaden | Okada Izō | NHK | Taiga drama |
| Bloody Monday 2 | Otoya Kujo | TBS | ||
| Q10 | Heita Fukai | NTV | Lead | |
| 2011 | Fuyu no Sakura | Hajime Inaba | TBS | |
| Saigo no Kizuna: Okinawa Hikisakareta Kyodai | Agarie Yasuharu | Fuji TV | Lead | |
| 2013 | Tonbi | Ichikawa Akira | TBS | |
| 2013 | The Liar and his Lover: Side Story | Aki Ogasawara | Fuji TV | |
| 2014 | Bitter Blood | Natsuki Sahara | Fuji TV | Lead |
| 2015 | The Emperor's Cook | Tokuzo Akiyama | TBS | Lead |
| 2018 | Hanbun, Aoi | Ritsu Hagio | NHK | Asadora |
| Blues of Stepmother and Daughter | Akira Mugita | TBS | ||
| 2019 | Honto ni Atta Kowai Hanashi | Miyazaki Satoshi | Fuji TV | Guest Star, Episode 5: The Resentful Gaze |
Television Documentaries and Other Programs[]
| Year | Title | Role | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | The Man Who Wants To Be Truthful | Himself | NHK |
| 2016 | The Unknown Civilizations | Himself | NHK |
| 2017 | Tokyo: The Miracle City | Narrator | NHK |
| 2018 | Our 50 Years With Weekly Shonen Jump | Narrator | NHK |
| 2019 | Tokyo Miracle | Various roles | NHK |
Promotion videos[]
- Bahashishi, Oasis (オアシス, 2007)
- Bahashishi, Yakusoku (約束, 2007)
- Bahashishi, Kiseki (キセキ, 2008)
- Mayday, Do You Ever Shine (2014)
Stage performances[]
- 2012: Romeo and Juliet, Akasaka ACT Theater; role: Romeo
Discography[]
Singles[]
- "Pre-go: Zero" (2007)
- "Double-Action" (2007)
- "Perfect-Action: Double-Action Complete Collection" (2007)
- "Real-Action" (2007)
- "Double-Action Wing form" (2008)
DVD[]
- "My Color" (2008)
- "HT" (HT 〜N.Y.の中心で、鍋をつつく〜) (2010)
- "HT2" (赤道の真下で、鍋をつつく～) (2011)
Photobooks[]
- Pre-go: Zero (2007)
- Intently First Photobook (2008)
- 400 Days Photo Album/Diary (2008)
- Takeru Magazine/Takeru Magazine Plus (2008–)
- Deep Breathing/「深呼吸。」 Second Photobook (2009)
- So Far So Good! Takeru Satoh Profile 2007–2010 (2010)
- Nouvelles (2011)
- Rocka Nibunnoichi 1/2 Vol. 1, 2, and 3 (2013)
- Rurouni Kenshin (2014)
- Alternative (2014)
- If Cats Disappeared From the World (Movie) Official Photo Book (2016)
- "X (Ten)" Satoh Takeru Photo Book + DVD (2016)
- RurouNihon Kumamoto (2017)
- Satoh Takeru in Hanbun, Aoi Photobook (2018)
- 13years～TAKERU SATOH ANNIVERSARY BOOK 2006→2019～ (2019)
Awards and Nominations[]
| Year | Award | Category | Notable Works | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 60th Television Drama Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Mei-chan no Shitsuji | Won |
| 2010 | 20th Japan Movie Critics Award | Best Male Newcomer | Beck | Won |
| 2011 | 35th Elan d'or Awards | Newcomer of the Year | Himself | Won |
| 2012 | Japan Action Awards 2012 | Best Action Actor | Rurouni Kenshin | Won |
| 2013 | 76th Television Drama Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Tonbi | Nominated |
| 2014 | Hochi Film Award 2014 | Best Actor | The Liar and His Lover | Nominated |
| Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno & Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends | Nominated | |||
| 2015 | Japan Action Awards 2015 | Best Action Scene | Won | |
| Best Action Actor | Won | |||
| 9th Asian Film Awards | Best Actor | Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends | Nominated | |
| 85th Television Drama Academy Awards | Best Actor | The Emperor's Cook | Won | |
| 8th International Drama Festival in Tokyo | Best Actor | Won | ||
| 2016 | 24th Hashida Award | Best Actor | Won | |
| 42nd Broadcasting Culture Fund Award | Individual Acting Award | Won | ||
| 2018 | 41st Japan Academy Prize | Best Actor | The 8-Year Engagement | Nominated |
| Japan Action Awards 2018 | Best Action Actor | Ajin: Demi-Human | Won | |
| 98th Television Drama Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Hanbun, Aoi | Won | |
| 13th CONFiDENCE Award Drama Prize | Best Supporting Actor | Hanbun, Aoi, Blues of Stepmother and Daughter | Won | |
| 2019 | CONFiDENCE Award Drama Prize 2018 Annual Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Won |
Trivia[]
- Height: 171cm (5'6")
- Zodiac sign: Aries
- Blood type: A
- Specialties: Break dancing and solving Rubik's cubes