Hiroyuki Sanada is a Japanese actor. He has received numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Hochi Film Awards, two Japan Academy Film Prizes, a Mainichi Film Award, three Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Actor, four Kinema Junpo Awards, and honors from the Yokohama Film Festival. In 2018, he received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government for his "artistic developments, improvements, and accomplishments".
He began his career in the mid-1960s at the age of five, and gained prominence for his roles in Japanese films, later establishing himself as a dramatic actor. He is best known to international audiences for his roles as Ryuji Takayama in Ring where he played alongside Nanako Matsushima, who was also his co-star in a 1997 television drama A Story of Love. His role as the Fool in a production of the Shakespeare play King Lear gave him theatrical attention, and led to his appointment as an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2002. Beginning in the 2000s, Sanada grew his Hollywood presence with such roles as Seibei Iguchi in The Twilight Samurai, Ujio in The Last Samurai, and Kenji in Rush Hour 3.