MIYAVI

The guitarist who didn't need a pick

Angelina Jolie cast him as a villain even though he had never acted before. In 2013, the director was looking for someone with an electric presence to play Sergeant Mutsuhiro Watanabe in Unbroken, and she ended up finding a Japanese rock musician. That casting changed how American cinema viewed Japanese artists arriving in Los Angeles.

And the gamble paid off.

Long before setting foot on a Hollywood set, Takamasa Ishihara was already a star on the streets of Harajuku. In the late nineties, he was part of the band Dué le quartz, but his real breakthrough came with his solo career under the name Miyavi. His guitar technique does without a pick entirely. He strikes the strings with his fingers as if playing funk bass, and that percussive sound is his true signature.

Success in Japan wasn't enough for him, so he decided to move to the United States to learn English and expand his sound. In 2010, he settled in Los Angeles with his family to start from scratch in an industry that didn't know him. But his skill with the six strings allowed him to collaborate with international producers and catch the attention of casting directors.

The Executioner of Louis Zamperini

Filming Unbroken in 2014 was an exhausting physical and psychological process. Miyavi admitted that he vomited after shooting some torture scenes because of the intensity of the character. But that rawness immediately opened the doors to major productions. Critics praised his ability to hold the camera's gaze without blinking, a trait he carried over from his years on stage.

In 2017, he made a brief appearance in Kong: Skull Island as a World War II pilot. It was a small role, but it helped show that his face worked well in big digital action productions. His physical presence and visual style fit perfectly into contemporary genre cinema.

Not everything is action movies.

In 2019, he reunited with Jolie in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and in 2021 he played a Yakuza boss in Kate. The Netflix film let him put his physical agility to use in fight choreography designed down to the millimeter. Miyavi performed his own stunts without doubles in most of the hand-to-hand combat scenes.

Maturing in genre films

His work in Japan also kept a steady pace throughout the decade. In 2022, he appeared in Hell Dogs as Yoshitaka Toake, and in 2023 he joined the cast of Familia under the direction of Izuru Narushima. These roles show a more restrained style, far from the visual spectacle of his early years in rock.

Music still comes first.

In 2022, he founded the supergroup The Last Rockstars with Yoshiki, Hyde and Sugizo. The band toured internationally in 2023, selling out tickets in New York and Los Angeles within hours. Despite his film career, Miyavi always returns to the guitar because it is the instrument that allows him to stay financially independent.

In 2024, his discography reached 15 studio albums with the release of Lost in Love on Virgin Music. That same year, he balanced promoting the album with filming new productions in Tokyo and his work as a UNHCR goodwill ambassador. His contract with the talent agency William Morris Endeavor remains in effect to manage his projects in the American market.