is a

Japanese-Canadian are Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia, which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them livin ...

actor and playwright based in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He has appeared in numerous high-profile films and television series shot in the Vancouver area, including '' Smallville'', '' Caprica'', ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films prod ...

'', ''

The Man in the High Castle ''The Man in the High Castle'' (1962), by Philip K. Dick, is an alternative history novel wherein the Axis Powers won World War II. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1947, and depicts the political intrigues b ...

'', ''

Altered Carbon ''Altered Carbon'' is a 2002 cyberpunk novel by the English writer Richard K. Morgan. Set in a future in which interstellar travel and relative immortality is facilitated by transferring consciousnesses between bodies ("sleeves"), it follows t ...

'', '' iZombie'', ''

Legends of Tomorrow ''DC's Legends of Tomorrow'', or simply ''Legends of Tomorrow'', is an American time travel superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, and Phil Klemmer, who are also executive producers a ...

'', '' Heroes Reborn'' and ''

Kim's Convenience ''Kim's Convenience'' is a Canadian television sitcom that aired on CBC Television from October 2016 to April 2021. It depicts the Korean Canadian Kim family that runs a convenience store in the Moss Park neighbourhood of Toronto: parents "App ...

'' and was a writer on ''

Da Vinci's City Hall ''Da Vinci's City Hall'' is a Canadian dramatic television series, which premiered on CBC Television on 25 October 2005 and ended on 28 February 2006. It is a spin-off of the long-running Canadian series ''Da Vinci's Inquest''. The creator, write ...

''. As a voice-over artist, he was the original English-language voice of Gihren Zabi in the ''

Mobile Suit Gundam , also known as ''First Gundam'', ''Gundam 0079'' or simply ''Gundam '79'', is an anime television series, produced and animated by Nippon Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcastin ...

'' franchise and played

Reed Richards Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) is a superhero character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member, and the leader, of the Fantastic Four. Richards has a mastery of mechanical, aerospace and ...

in '' Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes''. Kanagawa has also written several stage dramas. He won the Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language Drama for his 2017 play ''Indian Arm''.

Early life and education

Kanagawa was born in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous cit ...

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

, Japan and grew up in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

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; Sterling Heights, Michigan and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Kanagawa conducted his undergraduate studies in sculpting at Middlebury College, where he graduated in 1986. After dropping out of his initial graduate program, he re-enrolled at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

, where he completed his first play and completed his MFA in 1994. He has lived in Vancouver since 1990.

Career

Kanagawa played Principal Kwan in TV series '' Smallville''. He also voiced Gihren Zabi from ''

''. He was also the voice of

Mister Fantastic Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) is a superhero character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member, and the leader, of the Fantastic Four. Richards has a mastery of mechanical, aerospace and ...

on '' Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes''. Kanagawa has the distinction of having played three different characters in the TV series ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

'', appearing independently in seasons 2, 4 and 10. Besides acting, Kanagawa is also a playwright and screenwriter and teaches creative writing in the English department at

Capilano University Capilano University (CapU) is a teaching-focused public university based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located on the slopes of the North Shore Mountains, with programming that also serves the Sea-to-Sky Corridor and the Sunshin ...

. In 2015, he won the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Script for his play ''Indian Arm'', an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's ''

Little Eyolf Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

.'' In 2017, ''Indian Arm'' won the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awar ...

."Governor General Literary Awards announced: Joel Thomas Hynes wins top English fiction prize"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca ...

, November 1, 2017.

Filmography

Films

Television

Voice acting

Games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanagawa, Hiro 1963 births Living people Canadian male actors of Japanese descent Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian male voice actors Canadian writers of Asian descent Governor General's Award-winning dramatists Japanese emigrants to Canada Japanese expatriates in Canada Male actors from Vancouver Male voice actors from Sapporo People from Sapporo Simon Fraser University alumni Temple University Tyler School of Art alumni Writers from Vancouver 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian male actors 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers