*anese actor

Shin Koyamada (小山田 真, Koyamada Shin, born March 10, 1982) is a *anese actor, producer, martial artist, and philanthropist based in the United States. He is best known for his roles in The Last Samurai and the Disney Channel original movie Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. He holds black belts in *anese and Korean martial arts, and has also won U.S. national championships in Chinese martial arts.

Koyamada is also known for his philanthropic efforts in youth leadership, humanitarian aid, gender equality, subnational diplomacy and SDGs, through Koyamada International Foundation (KIF). He was the 2020 Summer Olympics Amb*ador for Karate.

Contents

• 1 Early life
  • 1.1 Move to the United States
• 2 Hollywood career
  • 2.1 2000-2001: Early work
  • 2.2 2002-2004: The Last Samurai and breakthrough
  • 2.3 2005-2009: Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior and producing
  • 2.4 2010-present: Exploring Asia and production expansion
    • 2.4.1 Upcoming projects
• 3 Philanthropic work
  • 3.1 Amb*adorships
  • 3.2 Youth leadership and international education
  • 3.3 Humanitarian aid
  • 3.4 Subnational diplomacy
• 4 Martial arts community
  • 4.1 1998-2000: Early development
  • 4.2 2000-2004: Training in Kung Fu and national champion
  • 4.3 2005-2015: Further studies and martial arts festival
  • 4.4 2016-present: Karate for 2020 Tokyo Olympics
• 5 Entrepreneurship
  • 5.1 Production company
  • 5.2 International consulting
• 6 Personal life
• 7 Filmography
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Early life

Koyamada was born in Okayama, *an. His family is descended from Kagenori Koyamada of the Koyamada clan, a Samurai clan. In high school, Koyamada was team captain in gymnastics and competed in the Okayama Prefecture tournament for three years. He also enrolled in a Karate school, his first martial arts experience. He graduated from Ichinomiya high school in Okayama in March 2000.

Move to the United States

On June 11, 2000, Koyamada moved to the United States to further his studies. He enrolled in the ESL program at the University of California, Riverside. Later that year, he studied at Los Angeles City College, and began taking acting lessons.

Hollywood career

2000-2001: Early work

Starting in 2000, Koyamada auditioned for many commercials and acted in student films and music videos. He also booked national commercials for Disneyland, Apple Computer and JC Penney. In 2001, Koyamada c*ographed and performed martial arts forms and stage combat in a production of Shakespeare's Coriol* for the Knightsbridge Theater in Pasadena. Koyamada also made a brief guest appearance in Power Rangers Wild Force and co-starred in the award-winning American short comedy film A Ninja Pays Half My Rent.

2002-2004: The Last Samurai and breakthrough

Koyamada's debut film role was in the hit film The Last Samurai (2003), co-starring as Nobutada, a son of Ken Watanabe's character Katsumoto and a young Samurai who befriends Algren, played by Tom Cruise. His character became known for the iconic lines "Jolly Good" and "No Mind". The film grossed $456 million at the box office and was nominated for several Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and National Board of Review Awards.

2005-2009: Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior and producing

In 2006, Koyamada starred alongside Brenda Song in the Disney Channel's Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, which become one of the highest rated original movies on the channel. The film also broke records in the United Kingdom and Europe. From 2006 to 2008, Koyamada was a regular in the Disney Channel Games.

In late 2005, Koyamada and his wife Nia Lyte formed production company Shinca Entertainment to develop and produce a television and live streaming talk show The Nia Lyte Show (2006). In *an, Koyamada starred in and executive produced the *anese do*entary film Wine Road of the Samurai.

In 2007, Koyamada starred in and produced the short film Good Soil. Koyamada next appeared in the 20th Century Fox drama Constellation (2007).

In 2009, Koyamada partnered with Travis Moore and Nia Lyte to form comics company Laizen Comics. Koyamada, Moore and Lyte created The Dreamhoppers (2010), which was published and distributed by Laizen Comics to independent comic book stores throughout the United States .

2010-present: Exploring Asia and production expansion

Koyamada continued to explore working in *an and starred in the *anese stage production Ai No Shizuku. He also starred in and produced the film Heart of the Dragon (2013). Koyamada also produced a multi-part television and web series comprising Spirit Fashion Show (2013), Spirit Art Show (2013), Spirit Music Show (2013), Spirit Love Show (2013) and Spirit Earth Show (2014), with Claudia Hallowell and Nia Lyte and distributed by Spirit Show Network.

Upcoming projects

Koyamada has starred in and produced an American feature film The Yokai King. The film is expected to be released internationally in 2021.

Through Shinca Entertainment, Koyamada has developed and produced other comic book series and digital stickers for a mobile chatting system. He has also been developing numerous action films, *anese-style animation and mobile games.

Philanthropic work

Koyamada is known for various global philanthropic efforts. Koyamada and his wife founded an international non-governmental organization Koyamada International Foundation (KIF) to improve quality of people's lives by empowering global youth and women, and providing humanitarian aid to promote world peace and sustainable development.

Amb*adorships

Koyamada has been appointed as an U.S. Department of State Cultural Envoy and a *an-America Society Southern California Special Amb*ador. Koyamada has been appointed to several goodwill amb*adorships in *an, including Okayama Prefecture Tourism Amb*ador in 2010, Kyoto Tourism Amb*ador in 2012 and 2020 Tokyo Olympics Karate Amb*ador.

Youth leadership and international education

Koyamada speaking at Seinan Gakuin University in *uoka, *an

Koyamada has been invited by the U.S. Emb*y Tokyo in 2011 to lecture to *anese students in five different cities to promote international education.

Since 2015, Koyamada has given lectures at both private and national universities in *an, including Kansai University, Ritsumeikan University, Kindai University, Seinan Gakuin University, Okayama University, Okinawa International University and Miyazaki Municipal University.

In late 2019, Koyamada spoke at Mount Kenya University in Nairobi, Kenya. In February 2020, Emb*y of the United States, Moscow and its consulates invited Koyamada to be a keynote speaker.

Humanitarian aid

Since 2008, Koyamada has *isted homeless people in Los Angeles through KIF's program in providing foods and drinks. In response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Koyamada led fundraising efforts in California and donated to three affected Prefectures of *an. Koyamada also shipped 20-foot containers filled with basic necessities directly to victims. He has also *isted a number of natural disasters, including the 2018 *an floods.

Subnational diplomacy

In July 2017, Koyamada became the first *anese National Board of Directors of Sister Cities International (SCI). He led global initiatives on engaging global youth. In 2019, he created the *an-Texas Leaderships Symposium, a bilateral business and cultural event.

Martial arts community

Koyamada is also well known in the international martial arts community for supporting martial arts organizations and activities. His first martial arts experience was when he took physical education cl* in Judo in middle school.

1998-2000: Early development

By 16, Koyamada began to study Keishinkan Karate. In 1998, he competed in a national Karate Championship in Nagano. In 1999, he fought again at the same championship, and was awarded to his first Degree Black Belt skipped directly from a White Belt.

2000-2004: Training in Kung Fu and national champion

After relocating to Los Angeles in 2000, he gave private karate lessons for a few months. He began training in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu with the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic *ociation. Koyamada specialized in the empty hand form Bot Bo (拔步) and double broadsword. In 2001 and 2002, Koyamada competed in six U.S national martial arts compe*ions in several major cities, including San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco. In 2004, Koyamada was featured on the cover of Black Belt Magazine.

2005-2015: Further studies and martial arts festival

In 2005, Koyamada earned san-dan (third degree) Black Belt in traditional Keishinkan Karate. He also begun studying Iaijutsu, a *anese combative quick-draw sword technique, an art of drawing the *anese sword, katana, and one of the *anese koryū martial art disciplines in the education of the Samurai.

Koyamada also started training in Korean martial arts Tae Kwon Do. After a year of training, he earned a first degree black belt, and eventually a second degree black belt. In 2007, Koyamada began studying in Korea's Royal Court Martial Arts, for which he was certified as a 1st Degree Black Belt in 2009. In 2009, he performed traditional *anese swordsmanship at the Martial Arts Tour held in Nettuno, Italy.

In 2010 and 2011, he founded the United States Martial Arts Festival (USMAF), held in Redondo Beach, California. At USMAF, world renowned martial arts masters and youth performed different styles such as Karate, Shaolin Kung Fu, Krav Maga, Capoera, MMA, Tae Kwon Do, Shorinji Kempo, American Kenpo, Boxing, Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and others.

2016-present: Karate for 2020 Tokyo Olympics

In 2016, Koyamada was appointed as Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics Karate Amb*ador as part of an ongoing efforts to include Karate into the additional Olympics Games and to promote Karate internationally. In August 2016, the International Olympic Committee approved Karate as an Olympic sport for the first time in its history, beginning at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In 2017, he attended as a special guest for the first Emperor's Cup and Empress's Cup All *an Karate Championship at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.

Entrepreneurship

Production company

In 2005, Koyamada formed a production company Shinca Entertainment, based in Burbank, California. The company has since produced content, including the comic book series The Dreamhoppers under various brands.

International consulting

In 2012, Koyamada established Shinca Enterprise, a consulting firm to bridge American startup companies in *an and South America. In 2017, the company's clients include a wide range of businesses such as agriculture, technology, retail, energy, mining, sports, foods and entertainment industries.

Personal life

Koyamada is married to Carolina Manrique (known professionally as Nia Lyte), a Colombian-American producer.

Filmography

As actor

As producer

References

External links

• ShinKoyamada.com official website
• Shin Koyamada at IMDb
• Shin Koyamada at AllMovie
• KIF official website
• Shinca Group official website