Hiro Kanagawa

The native form of this personal name is Kanagawa Hironobu. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Hiro Kanagawa
金川 弘敦
Born	Hironobu Kanagawa (1963-10-13) October 13, 1963 (age 61) Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Education	Middlebury College (BA) Simon Fraser University (MA)
Occupations	Actor playwright screenwriter
Years active	1979–present
Japanese name
Kanji	金川 弘敦
Transcriptions Romanization Kanagawa Hironobu
Website	www.hirokanagawa.com

Hironobu Kanagawa (金川 弘敦, Kanagawa Hironobu, October 13, 1963) is a Japanese-Canadian actor and playwright based in Vancouver, British Columbia.[1][2]

He has appeared in numerous high-profile films and television series shot in the Vancouver area, including The X-Files, Smallville, Caprica, Godzilla, The Man in the High Castle, Altered Carbon, iZombie, Legends of Tomorrow, Heroes Reborn, Kim's Convenience, and Shōgun, and was a writer on Da Vinci's City Hall. As a voice-over artist, he was the original English-language voice of Gihren Zabi in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise and played Reed Richards in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes.

Kanagawa's play Indian Arm won the 2015 Jessie Richardson Theatre Award and the 2017 Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language Drama. He is also a four-time Leo Award nominee.

Early life and education

Kanagawa was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan[3] and grew up in Guelph, Ontario, Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Tokyo.^[citation needed] He graduated from International Christian University High School. Prior to his acting career, he worked in Tokyo as a sculptor and rock musician.[4]

Kanagawa conducted his undergraduate studies in sculpting at Middlebury College, where he graduated in 1986.[5][6] He also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.[7] After dropping out of his initial graduate program, he re-enrolled at Simon Fraser University, where he completed his first play[6] and completed his MFA in 1994.[8]

Career

Kanagawa played Principal Kwan in TV series Smallville. He also voiced Gihren Zabi from Mobile Suit Gundam. He was also the voice of Mister Fantastic on Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. Kanagawa has the distinction of having played three different characters in the TV series The X-Files, appearing independently in seasons 2, 4 and 10.

Besides acting, Kanagawa is also a playwright[2] and screenwriter and teaches creative writing in the English department at Capilano University.[9] He is an Associate Member of the Playwrights’ Theatre Centre.[10]

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.[5] In 2017, Indian Arm won the Governor General's Award for English-language drama.[11][12]

Personal life

Kanagawa has lived in British Columbia since 1990.[1] He resides in Port Moody, B.C. with his wife, artist Tasha Faye Evans.[13] They have two children together.[7]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Born Too Soon	Resident
1994	My Name is Kate	Doctor
	Voices from Within	Medical Examiner
1995	A Child Is Missing	Agent Kurosaka
	Cyberjack	Kenji
1997	Bliss	Emergency Doctor
	Excess Baggage	Jon
1998	Futuresport	Otomo Akira
1999	Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying	Controller
	Resurrection	Tech #2
2000	The Guilty	Police Detective
	Protection	Don
	Best in Show	Pet Shop Owner
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Japanese Delegate
2005	Hiro	Hiro
	Best Friends	Detective Miyashiro
2006	Family in Hiding	Kanagawa
2007	War	Yoshido
2008	The Day the Earth Stood Still	Dr. Ikegawa
2009	Hardwired	Dr. Steckler
	Girlfriend Experience	John
2010	The King of Fighters	Saisyu Kusanagi
2011	Doomsday Prophecy	Dr. Yates
	Earth's Final Hours	Tech
2013	Down River	Aki's Father
	Grave Halloween	Jin
2014	Godzilla	Hayato
2015	The Age of Adaline	Kenneth
2018	Fifty Shades Freed	Detective Clark
2019	Midway	Commander Isamu Fujita
2020	Deeper I Go		Short film
2021	Crisis	Dr. Ishiyama
	iDorothy	Sal	Short film
	Hiro and the Emerald Lady	Hiro
	Needle in a Timestack	Tattersal
	Every Breath You Take	Dr. Toth
2022	Orphan: First Kill	Detective Donnan

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Madison	Teacher
	Highlander: The Series	Akira Yoshida
	M.A.N.T.I.S.	Yakuza Translator
1994, 1997, 2016	The X-Files	Dr. Yonechi, Peter Tanaka, Garner	3 episodes
1998, 2000	The Outer Limits	Ron Hikida / Tali	2 episodes
1996	Sliders	Henry	Episode: "Obsession"
1998	Cold Squad
	The Inspectors	Polygraph Tech	Television film
1999	The Net	Frank	Episode: "Y2K - Total System Failure"
2000	Seven Days	Mr. Kim / Dr. Oshima	2 episodes
	Dark Angel	Theo	Episode: "Pilot"
	The Linda McCartney Story	Senior Narcotics Officer	Television film
2001–02	Smallville	Principal James Kwan	5 episodes
2002	Damaged Care	Dr. Kitano
	Living with the Dead	Frank the Business Consultant
2003	Betrayed	Dr. Tanaka	Television film
2005	The 4400	Agent Park	2 episodes
	Criminal Minds	Seattle ASAC	Episode: "Extreme Aggressor"
	Steklo	Akira
	Andromeda	Burma	2 episodes
	Stargate SG-1	Mr Wayne	Episode: "Full Alert"
	Da Vinci's City Hall	Fire Captain Roy Komori	9 episodes
2006	Blade: The Series	Taka	Episode: "The Sacrifice"
2007	Intelligence	Detective Ogawa	7 episodes
2008	Heroes and Villains	Mitsunari Ishida	Episode: "Shogun"
	What Color Is Love?	Henry Wong	Episode:
	The Story of Saiunkoku	Kaku	Episode: "It's the Company That Makes Travel Unpleasant"
2009	Supernatural	Game Show Host	Episode: "Changing Channels"
	Reaper	Morris	3 episodes
	Sanctuary	Ark-Fong Li	Episode: "Eulogy"
2010	Caprica	Cyrus Xander	13 episodes
	Human Target	Lt. Peale	Episode: "Pilot"
	Fringe	Lawyer	Episode: "The Box"
2011–12	The Secret Circle	Calvin Wilson	2 episodes
2012	Continuum	Dr. Ted Gibson	Season 1 episode 3
2012–14	Blackstone	Harold	4 episodes
2013	The Tomorrow People	Corbin	Episode: "All Tomorrow's Parties"
	Bates Motel	Dr. Kurata	2 episodes
2013-14	Almost Human	Recollectionist	3 episodes
2014	The 100	Council Member #3	3 episodes, season 1
2015	The Returned	Dr. Hiromoto	3 episodes
	The Magicians	Professor March	2 episodes
	The Whispers	Team Member 1 Brent	3 episodes
	Dark Matter	Emperor Ishida Tetsuda	2 episodes
2015–16	The Man in the High Castle	Taishi Okamura	5 episodes
	Heroes Reborn	Hachiro Otomo/Red Samurai	8 episodes
2015, 2018	iZombie	Lieutenant Suzuki	8 episodes, Recurring season 1; guest season 4
2016	Timeless	Agent Kondo	Episode: "Pilot"
	Zoo	Curtis	Episode: "The Moon and the Star"
	Kim's Convenience	Pastor Choi	2 episodes
2017–18	Legends of Tomorrow	Director Wilbur Bennett	4 episodes, season 3
2018	Altered Carbon	Captain Tanaka	7 episodes
	Salvation	Chief Justice Martin Cheng	4 episodes
	Designated Survivor	NASA Liaison to the President Richard Kim	Episode: "The Final Frontier"
2019	The Order	Detective Hayashi	Episode: "Hell Week, Part One"
	Warigami	James Ohata	6 episodes
	The Terror	Dr. Kitamura	2 episodes
	Limetown	R.B. Villard	2 episodes
	See	Lord Unoa	4 episodes
2020	Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist	Dr. Hamara	3 episodes
	Charmed	Dr. Tanaka	Episode: "Unsafe Space"
	Helstrom	Father Sean Okamoto	Episode: "Viaticum"
2021	Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan	Narrator	Voice role; 6 episodes
	The Good Doctor	Dr. Paul Nakano	Episode: "Letting Go"
2022	Star Trek: Discovery	Dr. Hirai	4 episodes
	Pachinko	Goto-San	Episode: "Chapter One"
2022–23	Upload	Sato	4 episodes
	So Help Me Todd	Alistair Song	2 episodes
2023	The Night Agent	FBI Director Willet	3 episodes
2023–24	Percy Jackson and the Olympians	Headmaster / Kronos	2 episodes[14]
2024	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Fire Lord Sozin	Episode: "Aang"
	Shōgun	Igarashi Yoshitomo	3 episodes
	Family Law		1 episode

Voice acting

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Mobile Suit Gundam	Gihren Zabi	English-language dub
	Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat	The Foolish Magistrate
2003	Master Keaton	Fumio Hisayama	English-language dub
2004	InuYasha	Saint Hakushin
2006–2007	Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes	Mister Fantastic
2007	Black Lagoon	Col. Matsuto	English-language dub
2020	Monster Beach	Stress Leave
2021	Future Boy Conan	Dr. Briac Lao	English-language dub
2022	Team Zenko Go	Mr. Tanaka
2024	Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction	Katsuaki Ognio	English-language dub

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front	Gihren Zabi	English version
	Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs. Zeon
2003	Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space
2023	Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest - The Adventures of Dai	Matoriv

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Notes
2006	Leo Awards	Best Performance by a Male in a Short Drama	Hiro	Nominated
2021			The Tailor	Nominated
			Deeper I Go	Nominated
	Vancouver Short Film Festival	Best Performance by a Man		Won
	UBCP/ACTRA Awards	Best Supporting Performance, Male		Won
2022	Leo Awards	Best Performance by a Male in a Short Drama	iDorothy	Nominated

References

1. "God's Baboons » Cast » Hiro Kanagawa". Godsbaboons.com. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
2. Birnie, Peter (November 25, 2010). "Stanley Park storm inspires Christmas play". The Vancouver Sun. Postmedia. p. C.7. Archived from the original on June 24, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
3. Fleshman, Cu (2019-10-30). "From 'Limetown' to 'See,' Actor Hiro Kanagawa Is Turning Up The Thrills". Character Media. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
4. Canada, Playwrights Guild of (2022-12-01). "Featured Member — Hiro Kanagawa". Medium. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
5. Middlebury College (2018). Middlebury College magazine. Vol. 92, No. 3 : 2018. Middlebury, Vt. : The College, 1981-.
6. Cleugh, Janis (October 17, 2017). "PoMo playwright up for GG award". Tri-City News. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
7. "Hiro Kanagawa Official Website - Home". hirokanagawa. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
8. "Hiro Kanagawa | Asian Heritage in Canada". Retrieved 2020-02-08.
9. "Hiro Kanagawa – Asian Heritage in Canada". Retrieved 2024-06-22.
10. "Hiro Kanagawa – Asian Heritage in Canada". Retrieved 2024-06-22.
11. Hennig, Clare (November 5, 2017). "Port Moody playwright wins national award for Indian Arm". CBC. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
12. "Governor General Literary Awards announced: Joel Thomas Hynes wins top English fiction prize". CBC News, November 1, 2017.
13. "Tasha Faye Evans posted a story update on Tasha Faye Evans for Port Moody City Council". FundRazr. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
14. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Action, Adventure, Family), Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Television, Co-Lab 21, 2023-12-19, retrieved 2024-01-21

External links

• Hiro Kanagawa at IMDb