Celebrity Student

Every once in a while we get a student at UCLA who is a celebrity in their own country. We've had actresses from Mexico, singers from Korea, and directors from Japan. But the arrival today of Takeshi Kaneshiro sent our entire student body into a tizzy.



Apparently he is a huge star in Asia, but relatively unknown here. None of the teachers knew who he was, but our students from Japan and Korea and Taiwan certainly recognized him and they wouldn't stop crowding the hallways trying to sneak a peak into his classroom or to snap a quick photo to email their friends back home.

We've had to have extra facilities staff on hand to keep the hallways clear of loitering students and to escort Mr. Kaneshiro quickly to and from the emergency exit before and after class. In fact, I gave up my classroom to his class because that room is closer to the emergency exit and to the administrative offices.

Although he is known for playing quirky roles in off-beat films, most American audiences will know him from Chunking Express or House of Flying Daggers. He's also quite a heartthrob for the young ladies, and being of mixed race (Taiwanese-Japanese) he is fluent in several languages.


With Ziyi Zhang in House of Flying Daggers

Luckily he's not my student so I don't have to deal with the chaos around him, but so far the teachers and students who have met him said he's actually a really nice guy who is here to study English and stay out of the limelight for a while. Yeah, good luck!

UPDATE: Takeshi lasted two days before the attention was too much for him and he left the English program. There were rumors of press and paparazzi on their way from Asia to hound him here. The students wouldn't leave him alone either. Someone apparently followed him into the restroom to take a picture.

Guess it sucks to be beautiful!