Fast five with Karen Fukuhara
This newcomer scored the jackpot with a big role in debut film
FACTFILE
NAME Karen Fukuhara
BORN Feb 10, 1992, Los Angeles, the US
FILMOGRAPHY Suicide Squad (2016)
1 SUPER-SIZED DEBUT
For a rookie, making your film debut in a summer blockbuster - complete with a sizeable supporting role as Katana in Suicide Squad, which is currently showing here - is too good to be true.
The 24-year-old US actress is still pinching herself over the once in a lifetime opportunity, telling M at the movie's recent press junket in New York City that everything is "surreal".
Fukuhara comes from a first-generation Japanese immigrant family, where she was raised in a "typical Japanese household, speaking only Japanese at home".
Her first brush with showbiz was landing the job of a TV reporter on Disney's Movie Surfers, a show that aired in Japan and in which she interviewed the cast of Disney movies.
2 KARATE CHAMP
The University of California, Los Angeles graduate, who majored in sociology with a minor in theatre, is also a bona fide fighter.
"I come from a martial arts background where I was practising full contact karate, and I was also doing it competitively too," said Fukuhara.
3 LETHAL WEAPON
In Suicide Squad, Katana is part of a group of supervillains assembled by the government to keep metahumans such as Superman in check.
"(Director) David (Ayer) was looking for a Japanese person who can speak the language and who had a little martial arts background," Fukuhara said.
"When I auditioned for Katana, I had to do a bit of sword fighting and martial arts. So because I knew how to perform fight choreography, I think David probably saw the intent and the meaning behind my moves."
4 SWORD PLAY
Katana is deadly with the Japanese sword she is named after - hers in particular is an ancient weapon that absorbs the souls of those it kills.
"I knew from the get-go that playing Katana meant knowing all her fight choreography is a natural instinct to her. To become a samurai warrior like her, I needed to know how to use the katana naturally," Fukuhara, who spent hours during pre-production days practising, said.
She became so proficient with the katana that she did almost all of her own stunts in the movie.
5 WOMEN ON TOP
Fukuhara hopes to explore the backstory of her masked anti-hero in future Suicide Squad follow-ups.
"I'd love to slip into the Harley Quinn spin-off," she said. "The idea of a group of female superheroes or supervillains coming together is amazing. It is very empowering."
Babes with blades
Wielding the katana has never looked sexier in the movies, thanks to these kick-ass female fighters
OLIVIA MUNN
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (2016)
RILA FUKUSHIMA
THE WOLVERINE (2013)
EMILY BROWNING
SUCKER PUNCH (2011)
DEVON AOKI
SIN CITY (2005)
UMA THURMAN
KILL BILL: VOL. 1 (2003)
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