Takehiro Hira

Takehiro Hira is a Japanese television, film, and stage actor. He has established a career performing in productions both in Japan and internationally, appearing in numerous screen projects and theatrical plays.

Born in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, on July 27, 1974, Hira was raised in a creative family as the son of actors Mikijirō Hira and Yoshiko Sakuma, alongside a twin sister. He lived in Japan until the age of 15 before moving to the United States. In Rhode Island, he attended high school at the Moses Brown School in Providence and subsequently pursued his higher education at Brown University.

Hira launched his professional acting career on the stage in 2002, debuting in a production of Yukio Mishima's Rokumeikan. Throughout his early career, he frequently collaborated with his father. Notably, he performed as Iago opposite his father's titular character in a stage adaptation of Othello. Beyond his domestic work, Hira gained early international stage experience in 2005 by portraying the Player Queen in a British tour of Hamlet starring Michael Maloney, which ran for three months across the United Kingdom.

His screen profile expanded significantly in Japan after securing the role of the final shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa, in the NHK taiga drama Atsuhime. Over the course of his film career, he has appeared in prominent Japanese features, including the blockbuster historical film Nobou's Castle as Natsuka Masaie. He also collaborated multiple times with director Takashi Miike, taking roles in films such as Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, Ace Attorney, and Aku no Kyoten.

In later years, Hira expanded his focus toward major international screen roles. He starred as the lead character in the 2019 British television drama series Giri/Haji. Following this, he appeared in American feature films, including Lost Girls & Love Hotels in 2020, Snake Eyes in 2021, and a smaller appearance in Gran Turismo. In 2024, he featured in the television series adaptation of Shōgun produced for FX.