He landed the coveted role of Seiya in Knights of the Zodiac, a live-action adaptation of the popular anime series. Who is Mackenyu, rising star of cinema?
On May 24, the live action adaptation of Knights of the Zodiac hit theaters, revealing a promising young comedian: Mackenyu. Aged 26, the latter landed the lead role in this big production, a collaboration between the Toei studio and Sony Pictures. He camps Seiya, the Bronze Knight in charge of protecting the Goddess Athena.
Real name Mackenyu Maeda, the artist is the son of actor, producer, director and martial artist Sonny Chiba, who died in August 2021 at the age of 82. He notably embodied the character of Hattori Hanzo in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.
Mackenyu was born in Los Angeles to Japanese parents. From a very young age, he was interested in various disciplines (including horse riding, karate, gymnastics, water polo and wrestling, but also the piano, the saxophone and the flute) while appearing furtively in various films and television series.
At the age of 15, he decided to move to Japan to become an actor. Multiplying the castings, Mackenyu finds in 2015 his first main role in the martial arts film Take a Chance, then appears in the superhero film Kamen Rider Drive: Surprise Future. In 2016, he gained notoriety when he landed the role of Wataya Arata in the teen romance trilogy Chihayafuru.
In 2018, Mackenyu joined the cast of Pacific Rim Uprising as cadet Ryoichi. This blockbuster directed by Steven S. DeKnight meets with mixed success (290 million dollars in revenue for a budget of 150 million) but allows him to rub shoulders with young talents like John Boyega and Scott Eastwood.
The same year, he played a troublemaking but talented young driver who hopes to reach the world championship in the motor racing film Over Drive.
In 2022, Mackenyu’s performance is noticed in the role of Scar, the scarred serial killer of Fullmetal Alchemist, live action version of the manga of the same name. That same year, the actor was chosen to play Seiya, the hero of the film Knights of the Zodiac, a film adaptation of the famous animated series itself taken from the manga Saint Seiya.
sony Mackenyu
Decidedly in high demand in the register of manga adaptations, the native of Los Angeles will be Roronoa Zoro in the One Piece live series, expected soon on Netflix.
The least we can say is that it will be expected at the turn, given the intransigence of the fans concerning the prolific work of Eiichiro Oda.