Emi

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Satoh was born on March 21, 1989 in Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama. He briefly worked as a child actor for three or four years, appearing in commercials and magazine photo shoots. As he advanced in elementary school, Satoh decided not to pursue work as a child actor due to his 'shy personality'. He graduated from Koshigaya Kita High School, Saitama in 2007. In the same year, while shooting Kamen Rider Den-O, he was diagnosed with primary pneumothorax after complaining about pain in the left chest, and has since recovered. Satoh was scouted by an agent from Amuse, Inc. in Harajuku in Tokyo when he was in senior high school, and made his debut in 2006. His first drama was Princess Princess D (TV Asahi) where he played the role of Toru Kouno. In 2007, he guest-starred in Shinigami no Ballad (Kentaroh Ishihara) and gained popularity in the seventeenth installment of the Kamen Rider series as Ryotaro Nogami. Satoh attributes the popularity of Den-O to its comedic timing. Following the success of Kamen Rider Den-O and its two further cinematic releases, in the spring of 2008, Satoh starred in the award-winning TBS drama Rookies as Yuya Okada. Satoh considers his role in Rookies to be his breakout role even though he only played a minor supporting role, as Rookies was shown on prime time television and able to reach a much larger audience than any of his previous works. Satoh also starred in the live-action in the summer of 2009. He reprised his role as Ryotaro (Den-O) in the third film of Kamen Rider Den-O in October 2008. He also starred in the drama Bloody Monday, based on the manga with the same name. In the following two years, Satoh starred or guest-starred in TV shows such as Mei's Butler, Mr. Brain, True Horror Stories and MW Dai-0-sho, and in films such as Goemon and Beck. In 2010, he played Okada Izō in his first Taiga drama Ryōmaden and landed his first leading role on prime time television with teen drama Q10. On 28 June 2011, he was confirmed to star as Himura Kenshin in a live action film adaptation of the manga series Rurouni Kenshin.

In Their Own Story

Released in August 2012, the Rurouni Kenshin film grossed a total of 3.01 billion yen at the domestic box office. Satoh made his stage debut as Romeo in the Japanese adaptation of Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet in May 2012. His subsequent project Tonbi was a drama series based on a novel by Shigematsu Kiyoshi. He then starred in Real, a science fiction mystery movie directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, as well as The Liar and His Lover(she fell in love with my lie/she likes lies too much), a live-adaptation film based on the manga Kanojo wa Uso o Aishisugiteru. In 2014, Satoh played the role of a rookie detective in Fuji TV's Bitter Blood. He reprised the role of Himura Kenshin in two sequel films of Rurouni Kenshin live action franchise, Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends, both of which were released in 2014. Rurouni Kenshin manga author Nobuhiro Watsuki praised Satoh's performance and called him the ideal actor to portray Kenshin. He, alongside Rurouni Kenshin co-stars Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki, and director Keishi Ōtomo, was appointed as 'Cultural Friendship Ambassador' to the Philippines by the Makati City council on 7 August 2014. Satoh made his TV return with the acclaimed TBS series The Emperor's Cook in early 2015. He followed up with three Toho Corporation films in 2015 and 2016, including the manga live adaptation Bakuman, the light novel adaptation If Cats Disappeared from the World, and Someone. His role in the 2017 film The 8-Year Engagement earned him a nomination for best actor at the 41st Japan Academy Prize. In 2018, he starred in two award-winning television series: NHK's Asadora Half Blue Sky and the TBS series Stepmom and Daughter Blues. In the same year, he reprised the role of Ryotaro Nogami in the last Kamen Rider movie of the Heisei period. In 2018, it was announced that the Rurouni Kenshin series would be getting two further installments, a prequel and a sequel to the original trilogy, with Satoh reprising his lead role. Principal filming wrapped in June 2019, with the movies being screened in 2020. In 2021, Satoh, along with One OK Rock and Ryunosuke Kamiki left Amuse, Inc. and established a new agency with co-actor, Ryunosuke Kamiki, called Co-LaVo. He is also an unofficial member of the Elite Four in the Pokémon Trading Card Game since 14 December 2021.

Reader's Guide

Takeru Satoh's career spans from 2006 to the present. His early works include his debut in Princess Princess D (2006) and his breakout role as Ryotaro Nogami in Kamen Rider Den-O (2007). He considers his supporting role in Rookies (2008) to be his breakout role due to its prime time audience. His first leading role on prime time television was in the teen drama Q10 (2010). He was confirmed to star as Himura Kenshin on 28 June 2011. The first Rurouni Kenshin film grossed 3.01 billion yen domestically. He made his stage debut as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in May 2012. He was appointed 'Cultural Friendship Ambassador' to the Philippines on 7 August 2014. His role in The 8-Year Engagement (2017) earned him a nomination for best actor at the 41st Japan Academy Prize. In 2021, he co-founded the agency Co-LaVo with Ryunosuke Kamiki. He became an unofficial member of the Elite Four in the Pokémon Trading Card Game on 14 December 2021. In 2025, he starred in and co-executive produced Glass Heart for Netflix.

Did You Know?

• Satoh was diagnosed with primary pneumothorax while shooting Kamen Rider Den-O in 2007, but has since recovered.
• He has a black belt in Shorinji Kempo.
• He played baseball during primary and middle school years.
• He co-founded the agency Co-LaVo with Ryunosuke Kamiki in 2021.