20 Facts About Mackenyu

Mackenyu is the son of actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba.

Mackenyu rose to fame after portraying Arata Wataya in the Chihayafuru live-action trilogy in 2016, which earned him the 40th Japan Academy Newcomers of the Year Award in 2017.

Mackenyu has since portrayed characters in many other adaptations of popular manga series, including JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter I, Tokyo Ghoul S, the villain Yukishiro Enishi in Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, and the protagonist Pegasus Seiya in Knights of the Zodiac.

Mackenyu Maeda, known as Mackenyu Arata, was born on November 16,1996, in Los Angeles.

Mackenyu is the son of Japanese parents, Tamami Chiba and Sonny Chiba, and has two siblings, a half sister named Juri Manase and a brother named Gordon.

Mackenyu attended Beverly Hills High School in their Advanced Placement Program and appeared in a few films and TV shows while growing up, including the TV mini-series Team Astro, and the Japanese feature film Oyaji, as he devoted most of his time to school and graduation.

Mackenyu learned horseback riding and Yabusame at the age of 7.

Mackenyu practiced Kyokushin Karate since he was 8 years-old, and he was placed third at the US kyokushin Karate Nationals in middle school.

Mackenyu was into music, playing piano since he was 10-years-old, and later participated in the brass band of his high school in Beverly Hills, playing saxophone, and flute.

At the age of 15, Mackenyu watched a Japanese movie and the actor who starred in it inspired him to pursue acting professionally in Japan.

Mackenyu held on to the dream of co-starring with the actor once he established his acting career in Japan.

Mackenyu later revealed that it was the late Haruma Miura after he co-starred with him in the movie adaptation of Gunjo Senki.

In 2014 at the age of 16, Mackenyu landed his first feature film lead role in Take a Chance and was featured in an acclaimed short movie depicting a Japanese family suffering the aftermath of the World War II in Tadaima in which the movie won The Best Narrative Short in Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival.

Mackenyu's acting quickly expanded to include three supporting roles in TV Mini-series including The Kindergarten Detective, Yume o Ataeru, and The Hatsumori Bemars.

In December 2020, Mackenyu announced that he would be leaving his agency, Top Coat, in April 2021 as well as suspending his Japanese activities for the time being.

Mackenyu announced that he wants to focus on global activities in 2021.

In November 2021, Mackenyu was cast as Roronoa Zoro in the American Netflix live action series adaptation of One Piece.

Mackenyu married a non-celebrity woman that he has been dating for a long time.

In 2018, Mackenyu became the brand ambassador for Japanese men's grooming brand GATSBY.

Mackenyu starred in the TV commercial "GATSBY Cop", together with popular Japanese actor Yuya Yagira.