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Kenichi Matsuyama

is a Japanese actor. He is known for his affinity for strange character roles, and he is best known internationally for playing L in the 2006 films Death Note, ' and ' in 2008. He was cast to play lead character Toru Watanabe in the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood, which was released in December 2010.

His stage name uses the katakana spelling of his first name (ケンイチ) instead of the usual kanji (研一).

Early career

In 2000 he entered . While there, he debuted as a model, in 2001, for PARCO, after winning the Grand Prix "New Style Audition", an event in colaboration with the agency Horipro. from among 16,572 applicants. He graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Toyama High School.

Matsuyama made his acting debut in the television series Gokusen in 2002.

He made his first film appearance in Bright Future in 2003.

He starred in the film ' in 2004, a movie with its main character modeled after real–life wheelchair basketball player .

Matsuyama starred in ' in 2009, using the Tsugaru dialect of Japanese in the film.

He played a police detective in the 2023 drama Why Didn't I Tell You a Million Times?

He voiced the role of Balthazar Bratt in the Japanese dub of Despicable Me 3 in 2017.

He was in the stage play ' in 2017.

Personal life

On April 1, 2011, he married Koyuki Katō, who co-starred with him in Kamui Gaiden. The couple's first child was born in January 2012, and their second child was born in January 2013 in South Korea. In July 2015, the couple had their third child.

He speaks in the Shimokita dialect. He also presumably speaks English, judging from a scene in ' where he plays L, who is talking to Near in English.

Filmography

Film

Japanese dub

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links