James Saito is an American actor who is best known as the original Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Dr. Chen in the ABC series Eli Stone, Joseph in The Company You Keep (TV series). His credits also feature Netflix’s Always Be My Maybe, Love Hard, Dash & Lily, and Altered Carbon, as well as Amazon’s Modern Love. His film work includes Life of Pi, Big Eyes, and The Thomas Crown Affair, alongside numerous other film and TV appearances. He is a member of Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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Early life
Saito's parents are of Japanese descent. He graduated from Hamilton High in LA and the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in acting. He later studied acting with actress Uta Hagen at HB Studio, located in New York City. He was in the last group of students who studied with Sanford Meisner on the island of Bequia in the Grenadines and then continued with Meisner in North Hollywood.
Career
Saito launched his acting career in 1976 with the landmark television film Farewell to Manzanar.Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he became a familiar face on television, guest-starring in classic series such as , M*A*S*H, Hart to Hart ,The Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series), The Greatest American Hero, MacGyver, and Miami Vice.
In 1990, Saito portrayed the iconic villain Shredder (Oroku Saki) in the original live-action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His film career expanded with roles films including Hot Dog... The Movie (1984), To Be the Best (1993) alongside Anthony Hopkins, Henry Fool (1997), The Devil's Advocate (1997), Home Alone 3 (1997), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), and Pearl Harbor (2001). He later appeared in I Think I Love My Wife (2007), director Ang Lee's Academy Award-winning Life of Pi (2012), director Tim Burton's Big Eyes (2014), While We're Young (2015), and Wilson (2017).
On television, Saito appeared in procedural dramas and hit series including Law & Order, Sex and the City, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, 30 Rock, Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-0, Person of Interest, Madam Secretary, House of Cards, The Deuce, Elementary, Iron Fist, Broad City, Grey's Anatomy, The Terror and Prodigal Son. He played Dr. Chen as a main cast member in the ABC series Eli Stone (2008–2009) and portrayed Tokugawa Ieyasu in the BBC docudrama series Heroes and Villains (2008).
As a stage actor, Saito received an Obie Award in 2007 for his performance in Julia Cho's play Durango at The Public Theater in New York City.
In recent years, Saito has starred in several streaming and network projects. He played Harry Kim in the popular Netflix romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe (2019), Kenji in the Amazon anthology series Modern Love (2019), and Latching in the Netflix miniseries Dash & Lily (2020), as well as appearing in Altered Carbon. In November 2021, he featured as Bob Lin in the Netflix film Love Hard, and later joined the cast of the ABC drama series The Company You Keep (2023) as Joseph Nishimura.