Arata Mackenyu: The real-life “Zoro” of One Piece, Japan’s national treasure, became a father at the age of 14

The topic of Japanese actors attracted hundreds of thousands of likes and thousands of comments and shares on social media platforms. After 3 days of One Piece airing, Mackenyu’s personal page increased by more than 200,000 followers.

Arata Mackenyu was born in 1996, the son of Japan’s No. 1 martial arts star Sonny Chiba. He used to live in the US and returned to his native Japan to develop his career, so he can speak English and Japanese fluently, which is convenient for international development.

It is known that the actor’s real name is Maeda Mackenyu but he dropped his surname Maeda and adopted the stage name Arata to avoid being considered based on his father’s fame. Mackenyu followed his father to learn martial arts from a young age, and also has the ability to sword dance, ski, ride horses, play the piano… Therefore, the actor born in 1996 has a good foundation to participate in action movies, acting martial arts scenes.

According to his father, he won the third prize in the school-wide karate competition in his middle school years. Thanks to his experience in martial arts trained from a young age, he had the opportunity to act in action movies and make his own mark on the screen.

At the age of nine, Mackenyu first made his acting debut in the movie “Team Astro” in which his father starred. Since then, he gradually accumulated a lot of experience, stepping step by step into the film industry. Mackenyu’s name shot to prominence after his role as Eiji Tomari/Kamen Rider Dark Drive in 2015’s “Kamen Rider Drive: Surprise Future.”

Mackenyu’s career has not only been spread with flowers in Japan, but also in the United States. He starred in 2 American films, “Take A Chance” and “Tadaima”, which later earned him the best supporting actor award at the Asians of Films Film Festival. In 2017, Arata received the “Best Newcomer of the Year” award from the Japan Academy for his film Chihayafuru.

Before the live-action One Piece, Maeda Mackenyu appeared in manga adaptations such as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter I (2017), Tokyo Ghoul S (2019), Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021), Pegasus Seiya in Knights of the Zodiac (2023) … The actor also appeared in the Hollywood blockbuster Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018).

Excellent beautiful image of Arata in Pacific Rim

Arata’s “cool” image in Rurouni Kenshin

Known as Japan’s national treasure of beauty. He was once ranked 1 male star by Goo Ranking as having the most beautiful face in Japan in 2019, being the only male artist in the top 10 most popular photo books in the same year. Looks are appreciated, but that doesn’t mean Mackenyu is considered a “moving vase.” Actors challenge themselves in a variety of images, from hot school boys to elite warriors or assassins.

Although Hollywood-invested Knights of the Zodiac (2023) once again ruined the plot adaptation of the classic manga Saint Seiya, things changed when the live-action One Piece premiered, Mackenyu’s role as Zoro received a rain of praise, causing global fever in recent days.

Zoro, in the original One Piece, is a pirate hunter. He is the only character in Luffy’s group who uses a sword when fighting. Later, after traveling more than 1,000 chapters, Zoro showed tremendous strength, being one of the strongest pirates to accompany Captain Luffy in the Straw Hats.

In early 2023, the whole Japanese showbiz was abuzz with the announcement of the Mackenyu brothers’ simultaneous marriage. Mackenyu’s wife is former actor Okamoto Natsuki born in 1989, 7 years older than her husband. The two first met in 2017 when Natsuki was at a photo shoot with her fashion stylist husband. They have a social conversation but leave a strong impression on the other.

After divorcing her husband, Okamoto Natsuki and Mackenyu go on a date and get married. The actor always shows acts of love and respect for his wife and her stepchildren. On the TV show, Mackenyu kept his private life private and said of his wife: “I hit the jackpot. I’ve never seen anyone so cute and beautiful. The moment we met, I wanted to get married.”

Fame comes with notoriety, Mackenyu has many scandals in his private life. The most scandalous was when the media pulled back the actor’s old scandal from 2016. Friday revealed that Arata Mackenyu, then 19, had been hiding a child for a long time. The girl, Arata’s biological child, was 8 years old at the time and lived with her mother in the United States. This means that Arata has been a dad since … 14 years old, as a minor.

However, the scandal became even more shaken when the media investigated the information that the child’s mother was actually a woman in her 30-40s, temporarily called Y-san, married and … friend of Arata’s mother.

Because of this scandal, in 2013, Y-san was prosecuted for having s.ex with a 14-year-old. It was Arata’s parents who filed a lawsuit in the US court, claiming that their teenage son was c.ưỡ.ng by his close friend. However, the trial was suspended because Arata himself denied that the sexual intercourse was coercive. He admitted he had s.ex with his mother’s friend on a consensual basis.

At the time, through her lawyer, Arata denied Friday’s report, but the public still believed the scandal was real.

Last year, the actor denied allegations of tax evasion, rude behavior with women, relations with minors … by YouTuber Higashiya Yoshikazu. The YouTuber was later arrested, and Mackenyu was exonerated. Many celebrities who have been victims of slander and smear by Higashiya Yoshikazu also regained their honor.

It was thought that after the love scandal was publicized, Arata’s career would “fly color”, but, with his talent and tireless efforts, the actor achieved countless successes, completely free from the shadow of the “son of the king of martial arts Chiba”.