Moritaka Yoshida

Moritaka Yoshida was born on Jul 20, 1970 in Japan. Moritaka Yoshida's big-screen debut came with Sword of Honor directed by Robert Tiffe in 1996. Moritaka Yoshida is known for The Last Samurai directed by Edward Zwick, Ken Watanabe stars as Katsumoto and Tom Cruise as Nathan Algren. The upcoming new movie Moritaka Yoshida plays is The Last Samurai which will be released on Dec 05, 2003.

Moritaka decided at age 10 he would become an action star. At age 12, he challenged his family's wishes and entered into martial arts and entertainment. He tried to enter the professional school in Tokyo, but was told he was too young. By the age of 14, Moritaka was the youngest student chosen from 100 other students to study in a professional school under the famous action star Sonny Chiba. He took on intensive studies in stage acting, screen acting, comedy, singing, sword-fighting, dancing (all styles), stunts, (including gymnastics, motorcycle riding, scuba diving, high diving, horse-back riding, etc.) in addition to maintaining a part time job. After 2 more gruelling manual tests (dropping 100 from the 200 student body each time), he was accepted into one of Japan's top media agencies, JAC, at it's golden time, and was understudy to many famous actors, working with directors, producers, writers and promoters on many hit television shows and theatre productions in Japan. By the time he came of age within the JAC agency, the economy in Japan collapsed and brought many of these projects to a halt. Moritaka watched sadly as famous actors and crew left their long careers for other professions, and he realized his goals in the Entertainment Industry were taking a different shape. After some dedicated research, he made his extraordinary decision. The track record of a Japanese actor succeeding in the U.S. is small to none, but because of his strong determination, the United States is fortunate to have received this highly skilled young talent. Almost as soon as he arrived in the United States seven years ago, Moritaka was introduced to Danny Inosanto, Bruce Lee's best friend and co-caretaker (with Linda Lee Caldwell and The Bruce Lee Foundation nucleus) of Jeet Kun Do. Since, he has met and worked with friends and supporters such as George Barris (Batmobile, Kustom Kars King), Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, Bob Wall (Enter The Dragon), Gerald Okimura (Mortal Kombat, Showdown in Little Tokyo) and Matthew Earl Jones (Producer). Moritaka Yoshida is a member of many Martial Arts Clubs and Dojos in his hometown of Los Angeles, and works with organizations creating new opportunities for the children of L.A. He has contributed to many action films and stage productions as a Stunt Coordinator, Stunt Performer, and Action Star in the Entertainment Industry throughout the United States and Canada as well as Japan.