Hikari Takano Bio
Hikari Takano was born in Tokyo, Japan. He got his education in boarding schools in England until the age of 18, and he went to the University of Redlands in California where he graduated with a B.A. in History. He was also a four year varsity member of the NCAA Division III National Champion Tennis Team at the U of R.
In 1988, Hikari moved to N.Y. to study acting with the legendary Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
In 1991, Hikari made his feature film debut in Fred Schepisi's "Mr. Baseball", starring Tom Selleck. He also served as Mr. Selleck's bilingual assistant for the four month shoot in Japan.
In 1992, Hikari was cast as Leon in Barry Sonnenfeld's "For Love or Money", starring Michael J. Fox.
In 1993, Hikari appeared on Benetton’s billboard campaign in Times Square, New York City, for 20 months (photo). Olivieri Toscani photographed the controversial semi-nude billboard.
Hikari appeared in numerous TV commercials (Peugeot commercial), Off-Broadway, and Regional Theatre productions in his 11 years in New York City.
In 1999, Hikari moved back to Los Angeles, California, and began working as an interviewer for magazines like The Book LA, Perfect 10, Penthouse, Free & Easy, Cigar, and numerous Japanese movie magazines.
www.HikariTakano.com was officially launched on September, 2009.
Hikari has interviewed over 120 celebrities since 1999. His interviews include greats like Dennis Hopper, Sydney Pollack, Michael Madsen, Harvey Keitel, James Coburn, Jon Voight, Mickey Rourke, Kyle Maclachlan, Michael Clarke Duncan, Lilly Tomlin, Emily Mortimer, Asia Argento, Eric Roberts, David Carradine, Lawrence Bender, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Bob Sapp, Bas Rutten, Jonny Moseley, Dolph Lundgren, Lou Diamond Phillips, Chris Webber, Ron Artest, Karl Malone, John Salley, Scott Spiezio, Barry Zito, Eric Gagne, Derek Lowe, Don Johnson, Howard Lederer, Jay Mohr, Joe Rogan, Artie Lange, Scott Ferrall, Andy Dick, Sam Simon, Sean Young, Edward Furlong, Rob Dibble, Jim Lampley, Eddie Griffin, Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders, Robert Vaughn, Doug Jones, Louis Gossett Jr, Michael Rapaport, Steve Guttenberg, Sugar Ray Leonard, Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Tarver, Lennox Lewis, Roland Joffe, David Lynch, Abel Ferrara, Stan Winston, Katja von Garnier, Tony Bui, William H. Macy, Milos Forman, Gerry Lopez, Pete Hamill, Mark Hamill, John Milius, Norman Jewison, David O. Russell, Steve James, Joel Schumacher, Mike Figgis, Jon Turtletaub, Todd Solondz, Dana Brown, Bruce Brown, Mark Spitz, Vlade Divac, Pete Rose, Leroy Neiman, Brian Wilson, Spike Jonze, Vincent Gallo, Daryl Hannah, Stacey Keibler, Matt Schulze, Robert Loggia, George Takei, Anthony Lapaglia, Rachael Leigh Cook, Rinko Kikuchi, Martin Landau, Kevin Costner, Chris Weitz, Jason Isaacs, Ulrich Thomsen, Brett Morgen, Thomas Jane, Peter Stormare, James Remar, Robert Forster, Vincent Curatola, and Billy Bob Thornton.