When a 10-year-old Sakura fell in love with acting on stage as the lead character for a school play in Tokyo, she had no idea that years later she would be studying acting in the Big Apple and working with William Baldwin and Jodie Foster in films.

Sakura started her training in modern, jazz and tap dance when she was 12. Soon there after, only 3 years later, she was cast for her first professional theater show and decided to enroll in an acting school focusing on theater. After earning numerous roles for theater, independent films and voice-over work in Japan, Sakura was eager for a bigger stage.

At the age of 22, she auditioned for the Neighborhood Playhouse and was accepted. She moved to New York City and studied the Meisner technique for 3 years. After that, she learned the Utah Hagen technique at the HB Studio. Sakura’s career in the states began. She landed the role of a superheroine in an independent short film Power Go Girl. She went on to perform avant-garde at the Flea Theater under the director Jim Simpson. Her first major role was for an independent film “Feel” where she played the role of an ambitious masseuse opposite William Baldwin. Sakura also played the role of a Japanese office worker alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Jodie Foster for The Beaver, however due to editorial creative changes, those scenes didn’t not make it to the final film. Notably, she was one of the three finalists for the role of Katana in the 2016 upcoming film Suicide Squad by David Ayer.

When she is not busy saving the world on screen, she enjoys honing her skills in martial arts like karate, Japanese sword fighting and Krav Maga. She is a true artist of many talents; off stage you can find her cutting and styling people’s hair and doing make-up as she also has a cosmetologist license. Her curiosity goes beyond making people look and feel beautiful as she creates jewelry, takes photos and travels around the globe.

By: Miwa Guevarra