Claude Gagnon (born 18 December 1949) is a Canadian filmmaker and actor, who frequently works in both Canada and Japan.
A Quebec native, Gagnon first came to Japan in 1970 as photojournalist covering Expo '70 in Osaka. He met his wife, ballerina-turned-filmmaker Yuri Yoshimura, whom he married in 1973.
<blockquote>"My original plan was to spend six months in Japan, and then to go to Indonesia before heading to Europe. I thought IâÂÂd do my little trip like everyone else did in those days. But after six months I still didnâÂÂt understand a thing. There were very few foreigners living in Japan in those days, and I remember that if you saw a Westerner in Kyoto, youâÂÂd crossed the road to say hi and trade phone numbers. It was the era of âÂÂPeace and LoveâÂÂâÂÂâÂÂeuphoric and stimulating."</blockquote>
Gagnon's introduction to the film industry was as an actor, notably playing a villain in the Sonny Chiba martial arts film Return of the Street Fighter (1974).
He made his directorial debut with 1979's Keiko, a neorealist-inspired lesbian-themed drama. The film was a popular success and earned Gagnon the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award, the first foreign-born filmmaker to do so.