--- description: Find out why Hiroyuki Sanada is one of the 100 most influential people of 2025. title: Hiroyuki Sanada: The 100 Most Influential People of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42dda60e75e8b7bc/6998c5be7323af1c182bc6ba/time100-2025-hiroyuki-sanada.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 16, 2025 # Hiroyuki Sanada by Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan  Robby Klein—Getty Images for SCAD Respect on a Hollywood set is often measured in silence. You’ve never been on a quieter set than one with Hiroyuki Sanada. Sanada is a legend, an actor cut from almost mythic material. He honed that coiled power and grace with a murderer’s row of mentors, from Sonny Chiba and Jackie Chan to Michelle Yeoh. If you want to be reminded of your own inadequacies, watch Hiro earn an MBE while singing in iambic and doing a flying handspring onstage in _King Lear_ with the Royal Shakespeare Company. With unerring politeness, like a gentleman thief, he steals scenes from the likes of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Keanu Reeves. With [_Shogun_](https://time.com/6692336/shogun-review-fx/ "undefined")_,_ he stole the whole damn show. All of this is belied by the quiet pleasure of working with Hiro. When he’s on set, everyone works with a little more reverence. You think you’re hiring an actor—but you’re actually summoning a force of nature. _Joy and Nolan are Emmy-nominated screenwriters, producers, and directors_ Hiroyuki Sanada Is on the 2025 TIME100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273750/hiroyuki-sanada/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273750/hiroyuki-sanada/"},"headline":"Hiroyuki Sanada","datePublished":"2025-04-16T10:30:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:45:48.390Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273750/hiroyuki-sanada/","keywords":["TIME100","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42dda60e75e8b7bc/6998c5be7323af1c182bc6ba/time100-2025-hiroyuki-sanada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42dda60e75e8b7bc/6998c5be7323af1c182bc6ba/time100-2025-hiroyuki-sanada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273750/hiroyuki-sanada/","name":"Hiroyuki Sanada"}}]}] ```