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Profile | Takeshi Kaneshiro, one of the ‘most good-looking’ actors in Hong Kong cinema and star of some of Wong Kar-wai and Peter Chan’s best movies, is a man of mystery
- Japanese-Taiwanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro has not been seen on the big screen since 2017 and avoids the limelight, cultivating an air of mystery for his fans
- Director Peter Chan, for whom, along with Wong Kar-wai, he did some of his best work, describes Kaneshiro as ‘fragile’ and hard to draw out of his comfort zone
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This is the third instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.
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When it comes to pretty-boy Hong Kong movie stars, Takeshi Kaneshiro tops the charts – and fills the hearts – of many.
Yet thanks to his reclusive nature, the Japanese-Taiwanese actor is a man of mystery – he rarely gives interviews and has no official social media accounts for fans to stalk.
In recent years, Kaneshiro has disappeared almost entirely from the limelight. The last film featuring him to be shown in cinemas was 2017’s This Is Not What I Expected, a mainland Chinese production directed by Hong Kong’s Derek Hui Wang-yu.
In the film, the heartthrob plays a wealthy hotel executive whose dedication to fine cuisine leads to his life becoming intertwined with that of a sous chef, played by Zhou Dongyu.
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The relatively conventional romantic comedy earned Kaneshiro the best leading actor trophy at the 2017 Golden Screen Awards, which took place in Los Angeles, California, and celebrates co-productions between China and movie industries around the world.
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