Kenji Sakaguchi

• Native Name — 坂口憲二 • Name — Kenji Sakaguchi • Born — 8 November 1975 • Birthplace — Tokyo, Japan • Children — 3 • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — * 2000–2018 • 2023–present • Agent — Black Tree • Website — https: officeblacktree.com/artist/kenji-sakaguchi/

His father, Seiji Sakaguchi, was a former professional wrestler and judoka known as the "Great Sakaguchi". Kenji himself is well-versed in martial arts, having attained a second-degree black belt in judo. His older brother, Yukio, was a self-employed mixed martial artist and professional wrestler.

Sakaguchi dated actress Koyuki, with whom he co-starred in the 2002 television drama Serchin' for my Polestar, until 2005. In 2009, weekly magazines reported that he was dating model Yumi Sakurai. They dated for four years until their relationship ended in 2013. A year later, on March 18, 2014, he married a non-celebrity woman who was reportedly in her early 30s and is from Kyoto. He revealed that they began dating in the summer of the previous year. The couple has three children together. A son was born on September 20, 2014, their second son on May 29, 2016, and their third child, a daughter, was born in 2018.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref. References • 2000–01 — Ikebukuro West Gate Park — Yamai (Doberman) • 2003 — The Always the Two of Us — Kenta Morinaga — Lead role • Song of the Canefields — Isamu Hirayama — Television film • 2004 — Pride — Yamato Hotta • Younger Brother — Tetsuya Watari • 2006–14 — Iryū: Team Medical Dragon — Ryutaro Asada — Lead role; 4 seasons • 2012–25 — Second to Last Love — Shinpei Nagakura — 3 seasons • 2023 — Kazama Kimichika: Kyojo Zero — Kōji Yanagisawa

On 31 March 2018, Sakaguchi announced he was taking an indefinite hiatus from acting due to "idiopathic osteonecrosis of the femoral head". In 2023, he resumed his entertainment activities. It was announced that he would appear in a TV drama for the first time in nine years.