David Sakurai (

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, 19 July 1979) is a Danish Japanese actor, director, scriptwriter and martial artist.

Biography

Born in

to a Danish mother and a Japanese father and raised in

Frederiksværk Frederiksværk is a town with a population of 12,718 (1 January 2022) in Halsnæs Municipality on Zealand in Region Hovedstaden in Denmark. History A French cannon founder, Peyrembert, received permission to build a cannon factory here. Havi ...

, Sakurai has a brother named Kristoffer, who is a former dancer. He was interested in filmmaking from a young age and at the age of 18 moved to Japan, where he also learned acting. He played smaller roles in theatre and in

indie films An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

, like ''Tokyo G.P.'' in 2001 and ''Scarlet Runaway'' in 2005. He returned to Denmark in 2008, mainly because he wanted to work with '' Jack Hansen'' and other talented new directors and in his native tongue. Here he continued training under the Danish Actors' Association. He played one of his first leading roles in ''Eastern Army''. He worked with

Stellan Skarsgård Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), '' Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (20 ...

Steven Van Zandt Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...

and Hans Petter Moland, among others. In 2012, he starred in Hungarian dark romantic comedy ''

Liza, the Fox-Fairy ''Liza, the Fox-Fairy'' ( hu, Liza, a rókatündér) is a 2015 Hungarian black comedy film directed by Károly Ujj Mészáros, starring Mónika Balsai, Szabolcs Bede-Fazekas and David Sakurai. The film drew an audience of over 100,000 in Hungary. ...

'', which won the Grand Prize at Portuguese film festival

Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to fantasy/science fiction/horror-oriented commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental proje ...

in 2015. He has trained in

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is pronounced "Yong Chun. ...

and

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterise ...

, among other martial art styles. He lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

with his wife.

Filmography

* 2006 ''Skyggen af tvivl'' (short film) - Lars * 2007 ''Fighter'' - fighter * 2009 ''No Right Turn'' - waiter * 2010 ''Tour de Force'' - Hiru * 2010 ''Wasteland Tales'' - stranger *: "Eastern Army" *: "I Barbari Dei Cph" (scriptwriter, producer) * 2010 ''Tony Venganza'' - Shiba * 2011 ''Hapa'' (short film) - "self"; (scriptwriter, director, producer) * 2011 ''Shaky González''/The Last Demon Slayer - Jiro (martial arts choreography) * 2012 ''Emma'' (short film, Supernatural Tales video) - Bastian * 2012 ''Ud af mørket'' - Johnny; (scriptwriter, director, producer) * 2012 '' Hitman: Absolution'' (video game) - several characters * 2012–2014 ''

Lilyhammer ''Lilyhammer'' is a crime comedy-drama television series starring Steven Van Zandt about a former New York-based gangster named Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano trying to start a new life in isolated Lillehammer, Norway. The first season premiered o ...

'' (Norwegian television series) - Tensing * 2013 ''Detektiverne'' (Danish youth thriller) - Sony Kazu * 2014 '' Kraftidioten'' - Kinamann * 2014 ''Echoes of a Ronin'' (short film) - Shin; (scriptwriter, producer) * 2014 ''Dark Samurai'' - Miyamoto * 2015 ''

'' (Hungarian dark romantic comedy) - Tomy Tani * 2017 ''

Iron Fist Iron Fist, Iron fist or Ironfist may refer to: Military * Iron Fist (exercise), an Indian Air Force exercise held in 2013 and 2016 * Iron Fist (countermeasure), an Israeli counter-weapon system * 20th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom) or The Iron ...

'' -

Scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tr ...

* 2017 ''Housewife'' - Bruce O’Hara * 2018 '' Unbroken: Path to Redemption'' - Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe * 2018 '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' - Krall * 2018 ''

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

'' - Murakawa * 2020 '' Doorman'' as Hammer

Awards

* 2010 ''Best Actor'' and ''Audience Awards'' (Eastern Army; ''Movie Battle Film Festival'', Copenhagen) * 2010 ''Breakout Action Star'' ('' Action On Film International Film Festival'',

) * 2011 ''GoVisual Award'' (''Hapa'', shared with ''I Am Your Ecstacy''; ''Nordisk Film Festival'')

References

External links

* * * * * Albert Valentin
REVIEW: Echoes of a Ronin (Short) (2014)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakurai, David 1979 births Danish male film actors Japanese male film actors Living people Danish film directors Danish male screenwriters 21st-century Danish male actors Danish people of Japanese descent People from Frederiksværk Male actors of Japanese descent Danish expatriates in the United States