Professor Toru Tanaka
Biography
Professor Toru Tanaka was an American professional wrestler, boxer, martial artist and actor. Born in Honolulu, he trained in judo and earned black belt rank in Danzan-ryu Jujitsu. He began professional wrestling in 1958 and wrestled full time from 1966, adopting the heel persona of a Japanese villain from Hiroshima who threw ceremonial salt in his opponents' eyes. During a run in the World Wide Wrestling Federation between 1967 and 1978, he teamed with Mr. Fuji to win three WWF World Tag Team Championships and held the WWWF International Tag Team Championship with Mitsu Arakawa. Moving into films in the early 1980s, he made his debut in An Eye for an Eye (1981) and later appeared in The Running Man (1987), Darkman (1990), The Perfect Weapon (1991), 3 Ninjas (1992) and Last Action Hero (1993). He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
70years old at death
- Born Honolulu
- Died Lake Forest
- Star sign: CapricornThe sign runs December 22 to January 19
- Also credited as Professor Tanaka, Charles Nelson, Charles, Jr. Nelson, Charles Nelson Jr., Charles Huntley Nelson and Charles Jr. Kalani
Movie Career
- Films
- 12
- Career span
- 12 years1981 to 1993
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About the name
Kalani took on the heel persona of Professor Toru Tanaka, a Japanese villain from Hiroshima, despite being of Hawaiian and Chinese origin himself.
A first
Tanaka's third run as champion set a record for the most championship reigns. That mark lasted until The New Age Outlaws captured a fourth reign in 1999.
Professor Toru Tanaka movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Six actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Arnold Schwarzenegger's page
Clyde Kusatsu's page
Mako's page
Chuck Norris's page
Philip Tan's page
Victor Wong's page
Box office
What Professor Toru Tanaka's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$346 million
11 of the 12 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 12 films: 11 worldwide figure; 1 figure not found.
- 11Worldwide figure
- 1Figure not found
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 96% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$137M39.7% of the total
- 2$49M14.1% of the total
- 3$41M11.8% of the total
- 4$38M11.0% of the total
- 5$29M8.4% of the total
- 6$14M4.1% of the total
- 7$13M3.8% of the total
- 8$11M3.1% of the total
$13.6 millionfrom the other 3 films with a worldwide figure, 4% of the total
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.