Masaaki Sakai
Birthday: Born in 1946-08-06 in
Deathday: Alive
Born the son of Shunji Sakai, a famous comedian in Japan, Sakai initially came to fame by fronting the group sounds band The Spiders. This group, formed in 1962, was popular throughout the 1960s; they spawned several hit songs as well as thirteen situation comedy films featuring their music. He took the title role of Songoku (Monkey) in the 1970s Japanese TV program Saiyūki. This gained him fame in many English-speaking countries in the early 1980s when it was dubbed by the BBC and retitled Monkey. Due to his fame playing the mythical character Songoku, Sakai created a dance called "the Monkey" which became a craze in Japan. Sakai went on to a successful solo career after The Spiders disbanded, and continued acting in films and on television. In 1999, he formed the band Sans Filtre with two former Spiders, Hiroshi Kamayatsu and Takayuki Inoue. They released their first album Yei Yei in 2000. Sakai is known in Japan as a car enthusiast and regularly took part in the annual Mille Miglia race in Italy with his wife as a co-driver. He won a similar Japanese road race on October 18, 2000 driving a 1947 Cisitalia 202 MM with Inoue Takayuki (the guitarist from Sans Filtre) as co-driver. Due to business commitments he gave up racing in 2002 and gave his Alfa Romeo race car to Masahiko Kondō who is also a singer and race enthusiast. He is also a hobby archer. Sakai has been married and divorced twice, and has two daughters. He is an active supporter of AIDS charities. His show-business nickname is "Machaaki".
TV Credits
さよなら三角またきて四角
Character:
The interactions of two families that have lived next door to each other for generations....
西遊記
Character: Monkey
Buddhist priest Tripitaka and his three disciples Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy, travel from China to India to fetch the Buddhist scriptures. They have been sent by Buddha, and getting these scriptures will bring peace to the people of the world....
ちゅらさん
Character: Kohagura Keibun
The 64th NHK Asadora Renzoku Drama is Churasan, a story of a young woman, Kohagura Eri, who was born in Kohamajima Island, Okinawa on May 15, 1972, the day when Okinawa was returned to Japan from the U.S. Eleven years later, Kamimura Shizuko and her two sons, Kazuya and Fumiya, from Tokyo come to stay as the guests of a small inn run by Eri’s family. Eri’s fun-loving, yet eccentric family welcomes them warmly. However, Eri is shocked to hear one of the sons, Kazuya is terminally ill and Shizuko ...
クロサギ
Character:
Kurosaki is a young man whose family was destroyed by swindlers. Despite that, Kurosaki grows up to become a con artist known as Kurosagi. As Kurosagi, he swindles other con artists and returns the money to the original victim. He works with the master swindler Katsuragi Toshio even though Toshio had a hand in the destruction of Kurosaki's family. Kurosaki's life begins to change when he meets Yoshikawa Tsurara, a young law student who disapproves of his disrespect of the law. Can she persuade K...
古畑任三郎
Character:
Furuhata Ninzaburō is a Japanese television series that ran periodically on Fuji Television from 1994 until its final episodes in 2006. It was written by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani and is often referred to as the Japanese version of Columbo. The series is a police detective drama starring actor Masakazu Tamura as Furuhata Ninzaburo and Masahiko Nishimura as his stereotypically bumbling sidekick, Shintaro Imaizumi. The program aired weekly and featured a guest villain each time, usually a f...
ベストフレンド
Character: Kurosawa Michihiko
Kouhei asks his girlfriend Kaede to marry him. He also reveals that his company going to transfer him to London office and that he would like his bride-to-be to come along. As Kaede walks home she bumps into Yuuko, a girl from far-off Yaizu who has come to town for meeting with her ex-boyfriend's buisiness partner. The girls inadvertently swap addresses books in the confusion, leading Kaede to discover that Yuuko has meeting planned with Kouhei. She immediately expects the worse....
パパ・サヴァイバル
Character:
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この素晴らしき世界
Character:
A 'spoof comedy" in which a housewife who lives an ordinary life is forced to live a double life while pretending to be a major actress active in the entertainment industry....
無理な恋愛
Character: 타치키 쇼고
Shogo is a divorced man with one daughter. In his younger days, he was briefly in a band but it quickly broke up, and he took on a job at a record company. At the age of 60, he falls in love with the 35-year-old Kaede, but her career and values are very different from his own. In addition, Kaede already has an "ikemen" boyfriend. --Tokyograph...
世界一受けたい授業
Character:
This show's educational philosophy is to call professors of all ages and countries, and have them lecture on 「Useful Studies」 By solving the「Honyarara Questions」,this show will give out the「Living Hints」that you can learn to change your living. This means, by watching this show at home, you can take classes that are held at the world's highest learning institution, which will make the scales on your eyes fall off....
徳川慶喜
Character:
The 37th NHK Taiga Drama is Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The series focuses on the life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the 15th and final ruler of the Tokugawa period. Born the seventh son of Lord Nariaki of Mito, Yoshinobu is named shogun when he is just 29 years old. With a wisdom and vision beyond his years, he tries to prolong the life of this 200-year-old dynasty which began with Ieyasu. However, he is unable to forestall the winds of revolution as clans in Choshu, Satsuma and Tosa, with the help of the Imp...
Movie Credits
Toshigoro
Character: Okabe
Teenage film...
The Age of Undutiful Children
Character:
Comedy with music starring the rock band The Spiders....
The Fearless Otojiro's Company
Character:
In 1897, actor, director, producer and theatre company leader Kawakami Otojiro set off on a tour of the USA with his wife Sadayakko and theatre company members, but in a foreign country where he could not speak the language, he had to struggle against a succession of adversities, including lawyers absconding with the proceeds and actors going on strike. One day, however, Otojiro arrives in Boston on his arduous tour and sees a packed house for a performance of The Merchant of Venice by the famou...
I Am A Man of Honor
Character:
The sixth film of the “Truck Yaro” series. Two long-distance truckers, Momojiro and Kinzo, travel around Japan in highly decorated trucks. In Kyushu, Momojiro falls in love again... this time with a beautiful college student Masako....
Flowering Maidens
Character: Sabu
The young yakuza who have arrived in the city are being taught the beauty of work and the pleasure of learning by hard-working young people of the same generation. Youth masterpiece created based on the hit Kazuo Funaki....
A Girl of the Plateau
Character: Sabu
Kazuo Kitagawa lives on a farm on the Tateshina Plateau with his late teacher's widow and daughter, continuing his research. One day, Kazuo is attracted to the beautiful young lady who is visiting the villa when he goes out to the town…...
The Greatest Challenge of All
Character:
After an argument with his father a son leaves his home and comes back only, as an adult, many years later just to cause them problem after problem....
The Tempters: Smile After Tears
Character:
Layabout teen Shoken is dissatisfied with his nagging single mother and bullies at school. He and his friends decide to form a cool rock band, but a tragic discovery about his family weighs on Shoken heavily....
Locomotive Teacher
Character:
Seigo Yoshioka (Kenji Sakaguchi) is a teacher that became mute after a kendo accident. He feels lost after the accident and eventually decides to teach again on a small island where his mother was born. The children there on the island quickly name him "Kikansha Sensei" (Teacher Locomotive) after learning he is mute. The parents on the island are mostly hostile to Seigo Yoshioka, believing he is incapable of teaching their children. But with Seigo Yoshioka's determination and kindness, a strong ...
喜劇 右向けェ左！
Character:
Mamoru Hirayama, the sales manager of Clover Shoji, a women's underwear manufacturer, was selected by President Usui to be the manager of the foreign affairs section newly established in the sales department. Masaaki Sakata, Yasushi Inoda, Osamu Yamabe, and Jiro Oi were assigned to this foreign affairs section. Hirayama, a former soldier, is suddenly enthusiastic when the company orders him to join the Self-Defense Forces. One day, in the library where the records of the former army are displaye...
Japan Beauty Story
Character:
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Spirit World
Character:
Legendary singer Claire Emery (Deneuve) flies to Japan for a final sold-out concert. But when the show ends, so does Claire’s life on earth. However, an unexpected new life in the spirit world - where she will be guided by Yuzo, one of her biggest fans - awaits....
The Spiders: Big Commotion!
Character:
The Spiders arrive back in Tokyo by bullet train after a concert tour. They make their way through the fans to their car, the Spiduction and are off to the next gig. Jun and Masaki have an eye for the girls and are reminiscing about the girls at the last concert. That is, until they notice a hottie following them in a sports car behind them. They wave back and forth flirting with her until -- 'bang' -- they wind up in a 3-car accident and have to go to the hospital. The boys are fine, but their ...
Road to Hawaii
Character:
A 1954 film....
A Hardest Night!!
Character: Boss
A celebration of the ancient art of Japanese rakugo, roughly translated as “comic storytelling”. The film is interspersed with numerous funerals and wakes, songs, dances, and often disgustingly crude jokes....
Yunagi City, Sakura Country
Character: Asahi Ishikawa (Old)
Thirteen years afterward, I wonder if those who bombed Hiroshima are looking at me and saying: 'We did it! We were able to kill another person!' They should be," murmurs Minami (played by Kumiko Aso), one of the two leading female characters in Yunagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni, as she lies dying in 1958, her life brought to a premature end by sickness resulting from her exposure to atomic bomb radiation. This is a story about those who at least initially survived the first U.S. atomic bombing of...
Beautiful World
Character: Yuzo Tsutai
A gangster runs a budget nursing home....
High School Third Graders
Character:
In 1963, Funaki Kazuo's debut song of the same name was released and then it was adapted to a movie based on Kenji Tomishima 's novel “Shake to Tomorrow” with the same title, produced by Daiei with this song as a motif. Singer and actor Funaki Kazuo also appears in the movie, which depicts the fun, love and heartbreak in a Japanese school....
Here Because of You
Character: Akira Tanaka
An uplifting drama about the bond between a group of high school seniors and their kind-hearted teacher, Mr. Yabuki. Faced with the rigors of growing up in modern times, students often look to Mr. Yabuki for advice and guidance. But when Mr. Yabuki’s career is threatened as a result of a false accusation from the school’s PTA, the students band together to stand up for their beloved teacher and help him to save his good reputation and job....
Let's Dance Bon-Odori in Hawaii
Character: Masaya Matsui
A young man longs to travel to Hawaii, the birthplace of his deceased father, against the wishes of his family, who are estranged from those relatives in Waikiki....
Las Vegas Free-For-All
Character:
The Crazy Cats, a Japanese musical-comedy group, were showcased a series of comic adventures throughout the 1960s. Las Vegas Free-For-All, one of their most popular movies, featured scenes filmed on location in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. Appearing with the seven Cats were the lovely Mie Hama and such Japanese musical artists as The Peanuts, The Johnnys, The Drifters, and Jackie Yoshikawa & the Blue Comets....
High School Juniors (Part II)
Character:
A story full of youthful vigor and spirit as high school students try to work out their problems, realize the awakening of love and growing maturity and find fun and happiness in helping others....
The Spiders' The Road to Bali
Character: Masaaki Sakai
The Spiders, a 1960s Japanese Group Sounds band, star in this rare Monkees and Beatles inspired secret agent movie. During their Asian tour spies try to smuggle plutonium hidden in The Spiders' guitar amps!...
The Spiders' The Noisy Parade
Character: Masaaki Sakai
Popular Japanese Group Sounds band, The Spiders, star in their second movie, a "HELP!" inspired rock n roll spy movie!...
The School Cap
Character: Matsubara
A Tokyo student transfers to a rural school and finds it difficult to adjust himself to its customs and traditions. One of the customs is the wearing of an old school cap by a senior. It is a symbol of courage and bravery and is handed down to a new senior each year....
The Spiders' The Reckless Operation
Character: Masaaki
The Spiders, a Japanese pop group, in their first starring role, walk from Yokohama to Tokyo, to prove their love for a girl who told them "the person who can overcome any obstacle will be my lover"! Neither traffic, buildings, nor the police can stop them, in this madcap rock musical adventure!...
The Sunset Is Crying
Character:
The Spiders hit song made into a movie....
Youth A Go Go!
Character:
Kenichi and Satoru join up with three other electric music lovers to form their own band, "The Young and Fresh."...
Machi no Hi
Character: Chiyomatsu Sakanoshita
Chiyomatsu under the hill, also known as Choromatsu. He is a young man whose occupation is an approach shop, that is, a phony business of sex brokerage. Choromatsu is partnered with Umekichi, whom he calls "big brother," in this business. They live on the second floor of the aka-chochin (red lantern) owned by Takeko, where boys and girls who were abandoned at the abandoned children's temple on Mukojima also live together, making up a family of people who are not related to each other....
Bored Hatamoto: Letter of Death
Character:
Bored Hatamoto film...
Nakamatachi
Character:
Today is a new day with hopes. A youth hymn that depicts a young truck driver growing up in love with a dream while being supported by his friends who are always close to him. A movie adaptation of a hit song by Kazuo Funaki....
My Sweetheart
Character:
It had been a year and four months since Mitsuo was last on a movie set. Welcomed back by director Ishizaki and his film crew, Mitsuo is excited to star as the lead in "My Sweetheart". One day, half way through production, he meets his friends from a popular rock group, "The Spiders". Through their discussion regarding the climax scene, they criticize that the script is too grim. In a notion to protect their friend's career, they decide to pay the scriptwriter a little visit....
The Castle of Crossed Destinies
Character:
In the inner chambers of the Shugun's castle, 3,000 men attempt to vie for the affection of the female shogun. Based on the 4th-6th volumes in the manga series "Ooku" by Fumi Yoshinaga....