Masaaki Sakai is a Japanese actor, singer and martial artist. Born the son of , a famous comedian in Japan, Sakai initially came to fame by fronting the
group sounds band
The Spiders. This group, formed in 1962, was popular throughout the 1960s; they spawned several hit songs as well as thirteen
situation comedy films featuring their music. He took the title role of
Sun Wukong in the 1970s Japanese TV program
Saiyūki (lit. "
Journey to the West"). This gained him fame in many English-speaking countries in the early 1980s when it was dubbed by the
BBC and retitled
Monkey. Due to his fame playing the mythical character
Sun Wukong, Sakai created a dance called "the Monkey" which became a craze in Japan. Prior to taking the role in Monkey, Sakai learnt the art of staff known as
Bōjutsu for 2 years. Sakai went on to a successful solo career after The Spiders disbanded, and continued acting in films and on television. In 1999, he formed the band
Sans Filtre with two former Spiders, Hiroshi Kamayatsu and Takayuki Inoue. They released their first album
Yei Yei in 2000. Sakai is known in Japan as a car enthusiast and regularly took part in the annual
Mille Miglia race in Italy with his wife as a co-driver. He won a similar Japanese road race on October 18, 2000 driving a 1947
Cisitalia 202 MM with Inoue Takayuki (the guitarist from Sans Filtre) as co-driver. Due to business commitments he gave up racing in 2002 and gave his
Alfa Romeo race car to
Masahiko Kondō who is also a singer and race enthusiast. He is also a hobby archer. Sakai has been married and divorced twice, and has two daughters. He is an active supporter of
AIDS charities. His show-business nickname is "Machaaki". == TV shows ==