Hiroyuki Sanada is going to co-star with Halle Berry (X-Men)and Pierce Gagnon (Looper) in new CBS Sci-Fi Drama series Extant produced by Steven Spielberg.
http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/actor-hiroyuki-sanada-joins-cbs-summer -drama-extant-1200810479/
Loved him in the pilot. Hope he continues to have a big role.
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Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge.
He's doing a fine job, with limited screen time in EXTANT, but I have a question. Having seen him recently dominating the Syfy series HELIX, I was taken aback how similar his two roles for these tv series are. He provides the nuance, and the sleek glasses he wears on EXTANT helps differentiate the 2 characters, but I would think it a very bad career move to repeat oneself (back to back) and encourage typecasting. Many actors have suffered in this way - especially Bo Hopkins, excellent in films like THE WILD BUNCH but soon after relegated to playing dozens of Southern cornpone sheriffs.
shareHe seems to play the corporate villain--toss in Wolverine too--pretty well, so maybe that is why he is getting these roles.
shareI love how he plays an impudent liar who takes forever with his lines on both shows, but this could get him typecast easily.
Both Extant and Helix are derivatives ("Solaris" on Earth and "The Thing/Walking Dead"), but the latter is a more solid package I think.