Akira Takarada

Akira Takarada (宝田明 Takarada Akira) is a Japanese actor best-known among kaiju fans for playing Hideo Ogata in the original Godzilla and assorted roles in many subsequent entries in the franchise and other science-fiction films produced by Toho. He is one of three actors to appear in Godzilla films from the Showa, Heisei, and Millennium series, along with Kenji Sahara and Hiroshi Koizumi. He was also the first actor from the Toho Godzilla series to be cast in an American Godzilla film, portraying a Japanese immigration official in one of the first scenes shot for Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, although his scene was ultimately cut from the film. In recent years, he has become a frequent guest at American science-fiction conventions.