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Sho KosugiJapanese actor and martial artist
Date of Birth: 17.06.1948
Country:  Japan |
Biography of Sho Kosugi
Japanese actor and martial arts masterSho Kosugi, a famous Japanese actor and master of martial arts, is best known for his portrayal of a ninja. He was born in 1948 into a fisherman's family. In an interview, Kosugi revealed that his father wished for his son's happiness and therefore did not choose a profession or career path for him, leaving the decision up to Kosugi himself. At the age of 5, Kosugi started learning karate, which he considered late. Interestingly, Sho started teaching his son martial arts when he was still in diapers. His teacher was a silent and grumpy man who one day simply disappeared, leaving the young boy to speculate that he had passed away. Nevertheless, Sho Kosugi continued to study martial arts and in the late 1970s, he began appearing in films. In 1981, Kosugi played the lead role in the film "Enter the Ninja" and in 1983, he starred in the action film "Revenge of the Ninja". Continuing to embody the on-screen image of a ninja, Kosugi amassed an extensive filmography in the 1980s, including films such as "Nine Deaths of the Ninja", "Rage of Honor", "Blind Fury", and others. As of now, Sho Kosugi has accumulated 21 film credits, and he has also written a screenplay and served as a producer and director. It is known that Sho's son, Kane Kosugi, followed in his father's footsteps and also became an actor. Kane holds a black belt in karate and is skilled in judo, wushu, and taekwondo. It is also known that Sho did not want to see his son become an actor but wanted to involve him in his own venture, the Sho Kosugi Institute of Martial Arts. This caused some strain in the father-son relationship for a while, but eventually, everything was resolved. The Sho Kosugi Institute of Martial Arts is located in Los Angeles, California, and Kosugi stopped making films in the mid-1990s. His last roles were in the film "Kyokutō kuroshakai" in 1993 and the TV series "Ninja sentai Kakuranger". However, in 2009, Kosugi made a comeback in the film "Ninja Assassin". Interestingly, Sho never considered himself an actor and attributes all his success solely to his knowledge of martial arts. "Take away my martial arts knowledge, and you'll have just another slightly above-average Japanese man in front of you," he says. Sho Kosugi also believes that European people will never understand the philosophy of ninjas: "Most ninja movies are made by people who know nothing about ninjas."
