David Sakurai (Copenhagen, 19 July 1979) is a Danish Japanese actor, director, scriptwriter and martial artist.
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Biography
David Sakurai was born in Copenhagen to a Japanese father and a Danish mother and raised in Frederiksværk, Denmark. He has a brother named Kristoffer, who is a former dancer.
Sakurai 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, like Tokyo G.P. in 2001 and Scarlet Runaway in 2005.
Sakurai 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, Steven Van Zandt and Hans Petter Moland, among others.
In 2012, Sakurai starred in Hungarian dark romantic comedy Liza, the Fox-Fairy, which won the Grand Prize at Portuguese film festival Fantasporto in 2015.
Sakurai has trained in Wing Chun and Muay Thai, among other martial art styles.
Sakurai lives in Los Angeles 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 (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 Liza, the Fox-Fairy (Hungarian dark romantic comedy) - Tomy Tani
Awards
2010 Best Actor and Audience Awards (Eastern Army; Movie Battle Film Festival, Copenhagen)
2010 Breakout Action Star (Action On Film International Film Festival, Los Angeles)
2011 GoVisual Award (Hapa, shared with I Am Your Ecstacy; Nordisk Film Festival)
