Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城 武, Kaneshiro Takeshi, born October 11, 1973) is a Taiwanese-Japanese actor and singer. Kaneshiro has worked with some of the most renowned directors in Asia, namely, Wong Kar Wai (Chungking Express and Fallen Angels), Peter Chan (Perhaps Love and Wuxia), Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers) and John Woo (Red Cliff and The Crossing I and II).
Kaneshiro's mother is Taiwanese and his father is from Okinawa, Japan. He was born and raised in Taipei, but also holds Japanese citizenship.
The son of a Japanese businessman and a Taiwanese homemaker, he has two elder brothers; one who is seven years his senior, and another who is just one year older. After graduating from Taipei Japanese Junior High School, he enrolled at English-based Taipei American School, which enabled him to converse in English. While he was studying there, he began doing television commercials and decided to quit school to pursue a singing and acting career. He is multilingual, fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Japanese, and to lesser degrees in Cantonese and English. Taiwanese was the first language he spoke while growing up in Taiwan.