Hiro Kanagawa is a Japanese-Canadian actor and playwright based in Vancouver, British Columbia, who has built an extensive career in film, television, and voice acting. Born in Sapporo, Japan, on October 13, 1963, he grew up in various locations including Guelph, Ontario, and Tokyo, before moving to Vancouver in 1990. He pursued a diverse educational path, studying sculpting at Middlebury College and later completing a Master of Fine Arts at Simon Fraser University, where he also wrote his first play.

While Kanagawa is widely recognized for his numerous on-screen roles in live-action productions shot in Vancouver, his voice acting work forms a significant part of his diverse career. He provided the original English-language voice for the iconic character Gihren Zabi in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, a role he reprised in several related video games. Another prominent voice role was as Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic, in the animated series Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. His other anime voice credits include Saint Hakushin in InuYasha, Fumio Hisayama in Master Keaton, and Colonel Matsuto in Black Lagoon. In a specific example that connects his anime voice work to a major franchise, Kanagawa voices the character Matoriv in the English-language version of the 2020 series Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai.

In addition to his work in animation, Kanagawa has a prolific career in live-action television and film. He is known for playing Principal Kwan in the early seasons of Smallville and has the distinction of appearing as three different characters across seasons 2, 4, and 10 of The X-Files. His extensive filmography includes recurring roles in high-profile series such as Caprica, iZombie, The Man in the High Castle, Heroes Reborn, Altered Carbon, and most recently, the historical drama Shōgun. This blend of on-screen and voice acting showcases his versatility as a performer.

Beyond his acting career, Kanagawa is also an accomplished writer. He has worked as a story editor and screenwriter on several Canadian television series, including Da Vinci's Inquest and Intelligence. As a playwright, he has earned significant critical acclaim. His play Indian Arm, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf, won the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Script in 2015 and the prestigious Governor General's Literary Award for English-language drama in 2017. He has also taught creative writing at Capilano University.