Kitao Sakurai

Kitao Sakurai (born 1983) is a Japanese-American actor, writer, producer, and director of film and television. He is known for directing the 2021 Netflix film Bad Trip.

Kitao Sakurai
Born	1983 (age 41–42) Japan
Occupations	Writer producer director
Years active	1995 – present
Known for	Director on The Eric Andre Show

Early life and education

Kitao Sakurai^[1] was born in Japan^[2] in 1983^[3][4] and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.^[2]

Career

Sakurai is an actor, writer, producer, and director of film and television.^[5][6][7][8]

He made his feature directorial debut with Aardvark (2010), which was shot in his hometown of Cleveland.^[9]

He directed The Passage, a short film co-written by and starring American comedian Phil Burgers ("Dr Brown"). It premiered at Sundance in 2018, and won Best Short Fiction prize at the LA Film Festival, Best Comedy at Aspen Shortsfest, and the Grand Jury Prize at the Nashville Film Festival.^[10][11]

He also directed the 2021 Netflix film Bad Trip.^{[12][13][14][15]}

He is also known for his work in The Eric Andre Show.^[16][17]

His next project that he will be doing is the live action adaptation of Street Fighter.^[18][19]

Production company

Sakurai co-founded the New York-based production company Naked Faces, with Andrew Barchilon.^[20]

Filmography

As director

• Aardvark (2010)
• The Passage (short film, 2018)
• Bad Trip (2021)
• Twisted Metal (2023)
• Butterfly (2025)
• Street Fighter (2026)

As actor

• Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1995) as Justin Banning
• The Best Bad Thing (1997) as Zenny Hata
• Dogma (1999) as Stygian Triplet
• Aardvark (2010) as Darius Szopa
• Treatment (2011) as Tennis Instructor
• We Are the Hartmans (2011) as Music Video Director