1. Shin Koyamada is a Japanese actor, producer, philanthropist, and martial artist.
42 Facts About Shin Koyamada
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Shin Koyamada is best known to the international audience for his co-starring roles in The Last Samurai as Nobutada and the Disney's Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior as Shen.
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In philanthropy, Koyamada serves as Board Chairs of the Koyamada International Foundation, Guardian Girls International, StarAngel International, and the Japan United States Sister City Association.
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Shin Koyamada holds black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do and won gold medals in Shaolin Kung Fu at the US National Championships.
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Shin Koyamada was born in Okayama, Japan, and hails from the Shin Koyamada samurai clan.
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Shin Koyamada received basic Judo training as part of his physical education classes and graduated in 2000.
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At the age of 16, Koyamada began training in traditional Japanese karate, and by 18, he had earned black belts, distinguishing himself in national championships.
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In 2000, Shin Koyamada moved to the United States to further his studies as an international student, enrolling in the ESL program at the University of California, Riverside.
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In 2001 and 2002, Shin Koyamada attended Los Angeles City College, where he received general education and began taking acting lessons In 2001, Shin Koyamada landed his first acting role in a national commercial for Apple, filmed in Philadelphia.
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In 2002, Shin Koyamada's first acting roles in television included a brief guest appearance in Power Rangers Wild Force as an agent and a co-starring role in the award-winning short film A Ninja Pays Half My Rent as Black Ninja.
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In 2006, Shin Koyamada co-starred with Brenda Song in the Disney Channel's Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, which become one of the highest-rated Disney original television movies.
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In 2006, Shin Koyamada starred in and executive produced the Japanese documentary film Wine Road of the Samurai, which was broadcast by the Tokyo Broadcasting System, Inc nationwide in Japan.
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In 2007, Shin Koyamada starred in and produced the short film Good Soil, which is based on the historical event about Christianity in Japan.
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Shin Koyamada next appeared in the 20th Century Fox drama Constellation, with Zoe Saldana, Billy Dee Williams and Hill Harper.
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From 2006 to 2008, Shin Koyamada was a regular in the Disney Channel Games, appearing with Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, Cole Sprouse and others.
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In 2010, Shin Koyamada starred in the Japanese stage production Ai No Shizuku, which was the opening ceremony of the National Cultural Festival of Japan, the hosted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and Okayama Prefectural Government and broadcast nationwide by the NHK in Japan.
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In 2014, Shin Koyamada starred in and produced the independent television series The Yokai King, which was entirely filmed in Okinawa, Japan, and is based on famous Japanese folklore characters.
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In 2006, Shin Koyamada executive produced a Japanese feature documentary film Wine Road of the Samurai, produced by the Sanyo Broadcasting and broadcast by the Japan News Network nationwide in Japan.
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In 2014, Shin Koyamada executive produced an American television series The Yokai King, directed by Yuji Makino, in Okinawa, Japan.
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Later in the year, Shin Koyamada produced a short film Heart of the Dragon, written and directed by Jeff McDonald.
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In 2022, Shin Koyamada produced an award-winning American short film Shadow Glass, written and directed by Jay Lee.
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In 2011, Shin Koyamada developed and produced the original digital stickers Kolala, which were published on the Line app, a platform for instant messaging and social networking.
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In 2013, it was announced that Shin Koyamada joined as an executive producer for a cyberpunk RPG video game based on the historic legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi.
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Shin Koyamada joined the anime multimedia studio N LITE Media Corp, founded by CEO Christiano Terry, in 2022 and co-founded its Japanese anime and manga studio, N LITE Japan, in Tokyo.
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Shin Koyamada is attached as a producer for its first afro-anime feature film Mfinda, working alongside producers Christiano Terry, Masao Maruyama, a famous Japanese anime producer and founder of Madhouse, MAPPA, and Studio M2, and executive producers Viola Davis and Eric Beckman from GKIDS.
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Shin Koyamada begun supporting the program by participating in the annual charity event alongside Chuck Norris and President Bush, and by inspiring youth at the middle schools they worked with.
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In earlier years, Shin Koyamada has supported various charitable organizations across the United States, including the Japan-America Societies, National Cherry Blossom Parade, Los Angeles Mission and others.
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In 2019, Shin Koyamada pledged to create Guardian Girls, a global gender-based violence prevention program that empowers women through sports and martial arts as part of the Shin Koyamada International Foundation.
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In 2018,2019 and 2020, Shin Koyamada received the Chairman's Awards by the SCI.
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In March 2019, Shin Koyamada created the first-ever Japan-Texas Leadership Symposium, hosted by SCI, KIF USA, and the City of San Antonio, and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
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In 2020, Shin Koyamada completed his term and left the SCI Board.
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Later in 2021, Shin Koyamada founded the Japan United States Sister City Association in Tokyo, Japan, where he serves as chair, to foster and strengthen the existing sister city relationships between the two countries.
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Shin Koyamada is married to Carolina Manrique, a Colombian-born producer.
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In 1998, Shin Koyamada began training in traditional Japanese karate under a karate instructor in Okayama, Japan, on weekends.
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In 2000, shortly after moving to the United States, Shin Koyamada began training in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu in Los Angeles six days a week.
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In 2002, during the filming of The Last Samurai, Shin Koyamada trained daily in horseback riding and Kyudo for nine months in Los Angeles, Japan, and New Zealand to eventually master Yabusame.
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In 2004, Shin Koyamada was featured on the cover of the Black Belt magazine.
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Shin Koyamada's classmate included an American bassist and composer Stanley Clarke.
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In 2005, Shin Koyamada trained under Tadashi Yamashita for Iaido and Aikido at the Aikido Center of Los Angeles under a Japanese American Aikido instructor in Downtown Los Angeles.
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In 2008, Shin Koyamada began training in Kung Jung Mu Sul, the Korean Royal Court Martial Arts, under a Korean grand master in San Francisco.
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In 2009, Shin Koyamada was invited to perform Japanese Iaido at the first-ever Martial Arts Tour, a national martial arts festival in Nettuno, Italy, which was broadcast nationally across Italy.
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In 2010, Shin Koyamada created the first-ever United States Martial Arts Festival, an international martial arts event hosted by KIF USA.