Takehiro Hira

Takehiro Hira (平 岳大, Hira Takehiro; born July 27, 1974) is a Japanese theatre, film, and television actor.

Takehiro Hira
平 岳大
Hira in 2024
Born	(1974-07-27) July 27, 1974 (age 51) Tokyo, Japan
Education	Brown University (BA) Columbia University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2001–present
Parent(s)	Mikijirō Hira (father) Yoshiko Sakuma (mother)

Early life and education

Hira was born in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan to actors Mikijirō Hira and Yoshiko Sakuma.^[1] He was raised in Japan until he was 15 years old. He went to high school at Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, and then attended Brown University.^[2]

Career

He made his theatrical debut in 2002 with Rokumeikan which was written by Yukio Mishima. He worked closely with his father Mikijirō Hira, who was also a Japanese actor. Takehiro played the role of Iago in the production of Othello with his father playing Othello. He received major recognition when he played the last shogun Yoshinobu Tokugawa in the NHK taiga drama Atsuhime. He has appeared in several films of Takashi Miike, including Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, Ace Attorney,^[3] and Aku no Kyoten.^[4] He plays Natsuka Masaie in the big-budget film Nobou's Castle.

International experience

He played the role of the Player Queen in the English stage production of Hamlet in 2005, in which the title role was played by Michael Maloney. This three-month tour was received well at many places in the UK.^[5]

Hira played the lead role in the 2019 British TV series Giri/Haji. He has also had notable parts in the American films Lost Girls & Love Hotels (2020) and Snake Eyes (2021) and a minor role in Gran Turismo. In 2024, Hira starred in FX's adaptation of Shōgun.^[6]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2006	Memories of Tomorrow			[7]
2007	Chacha	Gotō Mototsugu		[7]
2010	Goodbye, Someday			[7]
	SP: The Motion Picture	Eiji Takigawa		[7]
	SP: The Motion Picture II	Eiji Takigawa		[7]
	Aibō: Gekijō-ban II	Hideaki Maruyama		[7]
2011	Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai	Ii Naotaka		[7]
2012	Lesson of the Evil	Teacher Kume		[7]
	Ace Attorney	Mitsurugi Shin / Gregory Edgeworth		[7]
	The Floating Castle	Natsuka Masaie		[7]
2013	Shundo	Master Harada	Lead role	[7]
	The Eternal Zero	Lieutenant		[7]
2015	Mother's Trees	Kenjirō		[7]
	S The Last Policeman - Recovery of Our Future	doctor		[7]
	Foujita	Lieutenant		[7]
2017	Sekigahara	Shima Sakon		[7]
2018	Killing for the Prosecution	Tanno		[7]
2019	Erica 38			[7]
2020	Lost Girls & Love Hotels	Kazu		[7]
2021	Snake Eyes	Kenta		[7]
	We Couldn't Become Adults	Keiichiro Sanai		[8]
2023	Gran Turismo	Kazunori Yamauchi		[9]
2024	Rumours	Tatsuro Iwasaki		[10]
	Crosspoint	Shigeru Watanabe		[11]
2025	Captain America: Brave New World	Prime Minister Ozaki		[12]
	Tornado	Fujin		[13][14]
	Rental Family	Shinji		[15]
TBA	Karoshi	TBA		[16]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2008	Atsuhime	Tokugawa Yoshinobu	Taiga drama	[17]
2009	Dandan	Sawada	Asadora	[7]
2011	Go	Saji Kazunari	Taiga drama	[18]
2012	Doctor Ume	Sanada	Asadora	[7]
2016	Sanada Maru	Takeda Katsuyori	Taiga drama	[19]
2019	Giri/Haji	Kenzo Mori		[7]
2021	Yasuke	Oda Nobunaga (voice)	ONA	[20]
2023	The Swarm	Riku Sato		[7]
2023–2024	Monarch: Legacy of Monsters	Hiroshi Randa		[21]
2024	Shōgun	Ishido Kazunari		[22]

Stage

• Rokumeikan (2002)
• King Lear, Edmund (2003)
• And Then There Were None, Philip Lombart (2004)
• Hamlet,^[23] Player Queen (2005)
• Korikoribanashi (2006)
• Othello, Iago (2007)
• Genghis Khan, Title role (2008)
• Gabrielle Chanel (2009)
• The Film of the Nation, Gustav Friedrich (2011)
• Bouye (2011)
• Harvest, Albert (2012)
• Pygmalion, Dr. Higgins (2013)
• HInoyouni Sabishi Anegaite (2014)
• Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (2015)
• Kakuonnna (2016)
• Super Kabuki (2016–18)
• Otoko no Hanamichi (2017)
• Yukinojo Henge (2017)
• Phedre (2017)

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
Primetime Emmy Awards	2024	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Shōgun	Nominated	[24]
Gawad Urian Award	2025	Best Supporting Actor	Crosspoint	Nominated	[25]