Theatre

Kanon Suzuki Hewitt

Kanon Suzuki Hewitt is a hafu Japanese/American who grew up in Tokyo, and currently lives, studies, and works in Canada. She began ballet at age four, which quickly blossomed into a love of dance, theatre, and other performing arts. Since age 12, Kanon has performed as a professional actor and dancer, and stage managed, assistant […]

Robert Ito

Robert Ito is a well-known film actor. Born in Vancouver in 1931, he began his performance career early, winning local singing, dance, and elocution competitions from the tender age of eight as “little Bobby Ito”. He also performed in talent revues in the community, both in Vancouver, and later in Hastings Park. He was interned […]

Brent Hirose

Brent Hirose is an actor, writer, director, improviser, playwright and voice over artist based in Vancouver, BC. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, he grew up all over the middle of Canada before settling in Winnipeg where he graduated with Honours from the University of Winnipeg’s Theatre and Film Program. Working there for over a decade, he […]

Yoshie Bancroft

Yoshie Bancroft is an award winning actor and theatre creator based on unceded Coast Salish Land (Vancouver, Canada). Recent theatre: Exit, Pursued by a Bear (Globe Theatre), The Orchard (Arts Club), Griffin & Sabine (Belfry); JAPANESE PROBLEM (Universal Limited/Soulpepper); Home Is A Beautiful Word (Sum Theatre/Persephone); SHIT (Firehall), Lizzie in Pride & Prejudice (Chemainus Theatre […]

Linz Kenyon

Lindsay ‘Linz’ Kenyon is a writer, composer, actor, and musician. He has released four albums, published poems and stories, acted in film, theatre, and radio, and written many plays. Kenyon grew up on a cattle ranch in British Columbia, and has used his wrangling skills in a few theatre productions. He has written, performed, and […]

Sansei North Productions

Sansei North Productions, a theatre production house, was established by Terry Watada and operated out of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto. Its primary purpose was to present Japanese American playwright Lane Nishikawa’s one-man show about Sansei identity, Life in the Fast Lane. It did so in 1983 and 1984. In 1987, Watada teamed […]

Carolyn Nakagawa

Carolyn Nakagawa is a poet and playwright whose work has appeared in theatres around Greater Vancouver and in various literary journals across Canada, including Ricepaper, Room, EVENT, and CV2. She was a finalist for the Malahat Review’s 2017 Open Season contest in the poetry category. Born and raised in the suburbs of Vancouver, Carolyn studied […]

Lorne Hawryluk

Lorne Hawryluk is a Toronto-based actor who was active in the 1980s and 1990s. His theatre credits include Song for a Nisei Fisherman (Sansei North, 1987); film credits include Breaking All the Rules (CBC-TV, 1987) and Kung Fu, The Legend Continues (Warner Bros, 1993). He also performed in a Musical Theatre showcase at the Banff […]

Brenda Kamino

Brenda Kamino is an actress who has performed on many of Canada’s best known stages for 40 years creating many roles in new plays for Cahoots Theatre Projects, Theatre Passe Muraille, Factory Theatre, YPT, Alberta Theatre Projects, the Prairie Theatre Exchange, fu-Gen Theatre, Nightwood Theatre; Kamino has also spent a season at the Shaw Festival […]

Ruby Truly

Ruby Truly is a Hawaii-born Nikkei actor and filmmaker. Born in Maui, she grew up dancing the hula, which she credits as a lifelong artistic influence. She studied theatre at the University of Hawaii, and immigrated to Canada in the 1960s. As a performer, she has numerous film, television, and theatre credits, including The War […]

Denis Akiyama

Denis Akiyama is an actor and voice actor with extensive credits in theatre, film, and television. Born and raised in Toronto, Akiyama received a BA in Psychology from York University and began working in child care before deciding to pursue his dream of acting. He studied at George Brown College, and began a decades-long career […]

Peter Kosaka

Peter Kosaka is a Japanese-born actor who built a film and theatre career primarily in Toronto, all while working a day job in finance. He came to Canada to study acting at the University of Windsor, receiving his BFA in 1985. After graduating, he worked as a dancer in a modern dance company, and later […]

Tsuneko Kokubo

Tsuneko Kokubo was born in Steveston BC in 1937, and raised in Japan. Returning to Canada in her late teens, she studied Fine Arts for four years at Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University), focussing on drawing and painting. She has worked extensively in theatre as a performer (physical theatre and dance) and […]

Toyoshi (Yoshi) Yoshihara

Toyoshi Yoshihara was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1937. After graduating from Waseda University (B.A.), he immigrated to Canada in 1970. Besides running a successful heavy equipment marketing business (Komatsu Canada Ltd.), he promoted theatre exchanges between Canada and Japan, and has translated more than 50 Canadian plays into Japanese, and five Japanese plays into […]

Donna Yamamoto

Donna is an actor whose acting career began in 1987 in an Art’s Club production for which she was recognized with a Jessie Award for ‘Most Promising Newcomer.’ Soon after, she played the lead role in Rosie’s Café by Rick Shiomi, which was the first Asian Canadian professional theatre group to tour across Canada. Since […]