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Ryuhei Matsuda
Acting
Biography
Ryuhei Matsuda (松田 龍平, Matsuda Ryūhei, born 9 May 1983) is a Japanese film and television actor. Matsuda's best known film roles include the young and desirable samurai Sōzaburō Kanō in Taboo and the rock star Ren Honjo in Nana.
At age 15, Matsuda was offered the role of the desirable young samurai Kanō Sōzaburō in Nagisa Ōshima's 1999 film Taboo. The role helped boost him from an entirely unknown actor to a film star, earning him a Japanese Academy award "Newcomer of the Year", as well as "Blue Ribbon", "Kinema Junpo", and "Yokohama Film Festival" Awards for the "Best New Actor". Since appearing in Taboo, Matsuda has played a wide range of roles, from the high school student Kujo in the 2…
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Ryuhei Matsuda (松田 龍平, Matsuda Ryūhei, born 9 May 1983) is a Japanese film and television actor. Matsuda's best known film roles include the young and desirable samurai Sōzaburō Kanō in Taboo and the rock star Ren Honjo in Nana. At age 15, Matsuda was offered the role of the desirable young samurai Kanō Sōzaburō in Nagisa Ōshima's 1999 film Taboo. The role helped boost him from an entirely unknown actor to a film star, earning him a Japanese Academy award "Newcomer of the Year", as well as "Blue Ribbon", "Kinema Junpo", and "Yokohama Film Festival" Awards for the "Best New Actor". Since appearing in Taboo, Matsuda has played a wide range of roles, from the high school student Kujo in the 2001 film Blue Spring to the rock star Ren Honjo in the 2005 film Nana. In February 2013, it was revealed that Matsuda would play the part of a Japanese gangster in the sequel to the 2012 Indonesian film The Raid, named Berandal. In 2020 portrayed Ryūnosuke Akutagawa in the film A Stranger in Shanghai. It depicts Akutagawa's time in as a reporter in the city. Since then, Matsuda has continued to work steadily across film and television. His notable award-winning period remains centered on his earlier career — most notably his Best Actor win at the 37th Japan Academy Film Prize in 2013 for The Great Passage, alongside a Best Actor win at the 2nd Hainan Island International Film Festival in 2019 for the film Shadow. More recently, his credits include the films Ichigeki (2023), Who Were We? (2023–2024), and Transcending Dimensions (2025). On television, he starred in the Netflix drama Asura (2025), based on Kazuo Kikuta's play, and in Tokyo Salad Bowl (2025). His film Disaster was released on February 20, 2026, and was also selected for the competition section of the San Sebastián Film Festival. In January 2026, Matsuda took on his first-ever leading role in a TV Asahi drama with Hey Detective, Your Backpack Is Open! He also appeared in UNDERGIRL a first movie from UNDERCOVER production, a superhero film released in Shibuya.
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BODY OF WORK
Ryuhei Matsuda's Filmography
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Bye Bye Love: Detective Is in the Bar
as Takada
UNDERGIRL
as UNDERMAN
The Secret Battlefield
Sai: Disaster
Unreachable
Transcending Dimensions
as Shinno
Who Were We?
as Ao
Ichigeki
as Shimada Konosuke
ZOKKI
as Fujimura
Okehazama: Oda Nobunaga Birth of the Overlord
as Shibata Katsuie
The Day of Destruction
as Mr. Shinno
A Stranger in Shanghai
as Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Beneath the Shadow
as Hiasa Norihiro
Wolf's Calling
as Samurai
The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan
as Shoji Segawa
Isle of Dogs
as Junior Scientist 4 / Bartender (voice)
The Scythian Lamb
as Ichirō Miyakoshi
The Last Shot in the Bar
as Takada
Before We Vanish
as Shinji Kase
Kurara: The Dazzling Life of Hokusai's Daughter
as Zenjiro Ikeda
The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue
as Tomoyuki
My Uncle
as Uncle
The Magnificent Nine
as Moku Kayaba
The Mohican Comes Home
as Eikichi Tamura
A Farewell to Jinu
as Takeharu Takami
Disconcerto
as Haruhiko Gyoten
The Raid 2
as Keiichi
My Little Sweet Pea
as Norio Koiwa
Detective in the Bar
as Takada
The Great Passage
as Mitsuya Majime
A Chorus of Angels
as Isamu
I'm Flash!
as Bodyguard
Phone Call to the Bar
as Takada
Tada's Do-It-All House
as Haruhiko Gyoten
Boys on the Run
as Aoyama
Photographing Mt. Tsurugi: 873 days of fierce fighting at an altitude of 3,000 meters
SOUL RED Yusaku Matsuda
Kanikôsen
as Shinjo
The Summit: A Chronicle Of Stones to Serenity
as Ikuta
The Vulture
as Osamu Nishino
大パルコ人①メカロックオペラ「R2C2～サイボーグなのでバンド辞めます！～」
Nobody To Watch Over Me
as Shogo Mishima
No Poster
Can't Protect Anyone
Nightmare Detective 2
as Kyoichi Kagenuma
Life Can Be So Wonderful
as Shuichi
The Suicide Song
as Riku Nagase
Tokyo Serendipity
as Takashi Ohno
The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker
as Kawasaki
The Yakiniku Movie: Bulgogi
as Tatsuji
Nightmare Detective
as Kyoichi Kagenuma
Chosyu Five
as Yozo Yamao
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A
as Jun Ariyoshi
Nana
as Ren Honjou
Demon Pond
Rampo Noir
as Tarô Hirai (segment "Caterpillar")
Synesthesia
as Kaoru Homura
No Poster
Making of 9 Souls
as Self
Otakus in Love
as Mon Aoki
Izo
as His Highness
Cutie Honey
as NSA Client
Karaoke Terror
as Ishihara
No Poster
Happiness in August
9 Souls
as Michiru Kaneko
Age 17
as Book Boy
Collage of Our Lives
as Masato Segawa
Blue Spring
as Kujo
Run Ichiro Run
as Ryu Mochizuki
Love Ghost
as Shibayama Ryuske
The 300 million yen robbery
Taboo
as Sozaburo Kano