Zen Kajihara

Japanese actor (born 1966)

Zen Kajihara
Born	(1966-02-25) 25 February 1966 (age 58)
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1985–present

Zen Kajihara (梶原善, Kajihara Zen, born 25 February 1966 in Okayama),^[1] is a Japanese theatre actor.^[2] Originally a member of the Tokyo Sunshine Boys theatrical troupe,^[3] he now works mainly with the Gekidan Shinkansen troupe.

He is known for being very short in stature, but very noisy and wild on stage, specializing in comedy. He had a problem reading kanji (Chinese characters) and insists that his roles have long, complicated, difficult-to-remember names.

Selected works

Films

The Gentle Twelve (1991), Juror 7^[4]
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1997)
Minna no Ie (2001)
The Grudge 2 (2006)
The Uchoten Hotel (2006)
Galaxy Turnpike (2015)
Black Widow Business (2016)
Masquerade Hotel (2019)
Hit Me Anyone One More Time (2019)
Masquerade Night (2021)^[5]
The Confidence Man JP: Episode of the Hero (2022)^[6]
Do Unto Others (2023)^[7]
We're Broke, My Lord! (2023)^[8]
Nightmare Resort (2023)^[9]
Yudo: The Way of the Bath (2023)^[10]
What If Tokugawa Ieyasu Became Prime Minister? (2024), Keiichi Morimoto^[11]
House of Sayuri (2024)^[12]

Television

Furikaereba Yatsu ga Iru (1993)
Furuhata Ninzaburō (1994–99)
Oosama no Restaurant (1995)^[13]
The Emperor's Cook (2015) – Emperor Hirohito^[1]
Here Comes Asa! (2015) – Genkichi Miyabe^[1]
The 13 Lords of the Shogun (2022) – Zenji^[14]
DCU: Deep Crime Unit (2022) – Hideki Bando (Ep. 2)^[15]
Hayabusa Fire Brigade (2023) – Yōsuke Morino^[16]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c SIS Company Inc. official profile page of Zen Kajihara (in Japanese)
^ 梶原　善 (in Japanese). tvdrama-db.com. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
^ 梶原　善 (in Japanese). engekilife.com. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
^ "12人の優しい日本人". eiga.com. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
^ "木村拓哉と長澤まさみが再びバディに「マスカレード・ナイト」特報＆ポスター解禁". Natalie. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
^ "コンフィデンスマンJP 英雄編". eiga.com. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
^ "ロストケア". eiga.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
^ "大名倒産". eiga.com. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
^ "リゾートバイト". eiga.com. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
^ "湯道". eiga.com. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
^ "もしも徳川家康が総理大臣になったら". eiga.com. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
^ "サユリ". eiga.com. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
^ "王様のレストランの出演者・キャスト一覧". The Television. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
^ "鎌倉殿の13人:三谷幸喜作品の常連・梶原善善児役「受けた命令は、必ず遂行」". mantan-web. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
^ "古田敦也、初のTBSドラマで市議会議員役「場違いなのは重々承知。控え目を心がけた」". oricon.co.jp. 15 January 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
^ "ハヤブサ消防団". TV drama database. Retrieved 28 August 2023.