On May 24, the live-action adaptation of Knights of the Zodiac hit theaters, featuring a promising young comedian: McKenney. At the age of 26, the latter took the lead role in this major production, a collaboration between Toei studio and Sony Pictures. He camps with Seia, the bronze knight in charge of protecting the goddess Athena.
Real name Makenyu Maeda, the artist is the son of actor, producer, director and martial artist Sonny Chiba, who died in August 2021 at the age of 82. He notably portrayed the character of Hattori Hanzo in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.
McEnue was born in Los Angeles to Japanese parents. From an early age, he was interested in various disciplines (including horse riding, karate, gymnastics, water polo and wrestling, but also piano, saxophone and flute) and made stealth appearances in various films and television series.
At the age of 15, he decided to move to Japan to become an actor. With more and more castings to come, McEnenu found his first lead role in 2015 in the martial arts film Take a Chance, followed by an appearance in the superhero film Kamen Rider Drive: Surprise Future. In 2016, she rose to fame when she landed the role of Wataya Arata in the teenage romance trilogy Chihayafuru.
In 2018, McKenna joined the cast of Pacific Rim as Cadet Rioch. Stephen S. Daynight’s blockbuster was a mixed success ($290 million on a $150 million budget), but allowed him to compete with young talents like John Boyega and Scott Eastwood.
That same year, he played a troubled but talented young driver hoping to reach the world championship in the motor racing film Over Drive.
The year 2022 sees MacEnaw’s performance as Scar, the scarred serial killer in Fullmetal Alchemist, the live-action version of the manga of the same name. In the same year, the actor was cast as Seiya, the protagonist of the film Knights of the Zodiac, which is itself a film adaptation of the popular animated series Saint Seiya from the manga.
Mackenzie
In high demand on the roster of manga adaptations, the Los Angeles native will star as Roronoa Zoro in the One Piece live-action series, which is expected to hit Netflix soon.
The least we can say is that this is expected in a bend, given the intransigence of fans regarding Eiichiro Oda’s prolific works.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
