Denis Akiyama

Denis Akiyama
Born
Denis Van Akiyama[1]

(1952-05-28)May 28, 1952[1]
Toronto, Ontario, Canada[2]
DiedJune 28, 2018(2018-06-28) (aged 66)[1]
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationActor
Years active1987–2018
Spouse
Danielle O'Connor
​
(m. 1987)​
Children2

Denis Van Akiyama (May 28, 1952 – June 28, 2018)[1] was a Canadian actor, best known as providing the voice of Silver Samurai/Kenuichio Harada and Sunfire in X-Men and Malachite in the original English version of Sailor Moon. He played Shinji in Johnny Mnemonic.

Personal life, career and death

Akiyama was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to a Japanese family.[2] He was a frequent guest star on Katts and Dog as well as voiced and played a number of role in The Adventures of Tintin animated series and Mayday. In 2015, he appeared in the feature film Pixels.[3] Akiyama was also a gifted musician having played trumpet in The Pukka Orchestra.

Akiyama died on June 28, 2018, from a "very rare and aggressive cancer". He and his wife Danielle had two children, Kintaro and Miya.[4] He was 66 years old.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1988 Dead Ringers Pharmacist
1995 Johnny Mnemonic Shinji
1996 Space Truckers Tech Leader
2002 Cypher Speaker Omaha
2005 The Pacifier Mr. Chun
2010 Repo Men Doctor
Resident Evil: Afterlife Captain Hotaka
2015 Pixels Professor Iwatani
2017 Kill Order Shiro Fujitaka Last film performance

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1988 Friday the 13th: The Series Hai Kwan Episode: "Tattoo"
1990 Inside Stories Aaron Iwata Episode: "Heartbreak Hoteru"
1994–1996 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues Lai Tzu / Lai (voice) 2 episodes
2005 Mayday Captain Masami Takahama Episode: "Out of Control"
2008 The Summit Prime Minister of Japan
2010 Mayday Captain Chun Byung-in Episode: "Target is Destroyed"
2012 Mayday Captain Park Duk-kyu Episode: "Bad Attitude" / "Stansted Crash"
2018 Taken Sensei Episode: "Strelochnik"
2018 Carter Koji Yasuda 6 episodes
2 episodes were released posthumously

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2001 Onimusha: Warlords Nobunaga Oda, Narrator English dub[5]
2006 Rainbow Six: Vegas Kan Akahashi
2008 Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
2011 Deus Ex: Human Revolution Tong Si Hung Credited as Dennis Akiyama

Cartoons

Year Title Role Notes
1991 Rupert Additional voices
1991–1992 The Adventures of Tintin Mitsuhirato, Bunji Kuraki, Tharkey (voice) 3 episodes
1994 Monster Force Additional voices 13 episodes
1994–1995 Wild C.A.T.s Dockwell (voice) 14 episodes
1993–1997 X-Men Dr. Darrel Tanaka, Silver Samurai, Sunfire (voice) 4 episodes
1997 Diabolik Director Graffum (voice) Episode: ″Panther Uncaged″
1998 Silver Surfer Watcher Prime (voice) 3 episodes
1998–1999 Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend Amycus, Cyclops (voice) 2 episodes
1999 Avengers: United They Stand Dr. Chris Johnson (voice) Episode: "Kang"
1999 Ned's Newt Guard, Elf (voice) Episode: ″Summer Gone, Summer Not/Sealed with a Newt″
2001 Braceface Mr. Ling (voice) Episode: ″Take That″
2004 Franny's Feet Sally the tough old cat (voice) Episode: "The Lonely Library"
2008 Degrassi: The Next Generation Oncologist Episode: "Death or Glory: Part 2"
2008 Toot & Puddle Dr. Ha Song (voice) 5 episodes
2008 Chilly Beach: The Canadian President Emperor (voice) TV special
2010–2013 Scaredy Squirrel Additional voices 13 episodes
2011 Justin Time Emperor (voice) Episode: "Secret Surprise & a Mammoth Mistake"
2017 Inspector Gadget Hattori-san (voice) Episode: "Tempest in a Tea Cup/Mr. Security"

Anime

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Sailor Moon Malachite (voice) 17 episodes
1999 Medabots Mr. Referee (English version, voice) 52 episodes
1999 Power Stone Galuda, Referee (English version, voice) 7 episodes

References

  1. ^ a b c d "DENIS VAN AKIYAMA Obituary". Toronto Star via Legacy.com. 2018-07-01. Archived from the original on 2018-07-04.
  2. ^ a b "An Interview with Denis Akiyama". Archived from the original on 2013-07-25. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
  3. ^ "Denis Akiyama facts". Movietalky. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  4. ^ Bartlett, Rhett (July 3, 2018). "The Toronto native was prolific across film, television, stage and anime for four decades". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  5. ^ "Denis Akiyama (visual voices guide)". BTVA (A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information). Retrieved 10 March 2021.