Brian Tochi

Brian Tochi (born Brian Keith Tochihara) is an American actor. During the late 1960s through much of the 1970s, he was one of the most widely seen East Asian child actors working in U.S. television, appearing in various TV series and nearly a hundred advertisements. He is best known for his characters Toshiro Takashi from the Revenge of the Nerds film franchise, Cadet (later Lieutenant) Tomoko Nogata from the third and fourth films in the Police Academy film series, and as the voice of Leonardo in the first three live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. He is also known as Brian Keith Tochi. Early life Tochi was born in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Joe Isao Tochihara (A.K.A. ‘Tochi’), a Beverly Hills celebrity hair salon owner, and Jane Yaeko (née Harada), both Japanese, and both of whom were forcibly interned during World War II. While Tochi was still young, the family moved from Los Angeles to Orange County, California, where he divided his education between local public schools and studio tutors (for child actors) on movie studio lots. After graduation from high school, Tochi also attended U.S.C., UCLA, and U.C.I. Tochi’s introduction into the entertainment industry came as a toddler. His father’s beauty salon, Tochi Coiffure of Beverly Hills, was a popular haunt for many famous clients, including Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Petula Clark and Patty Duke. One of his father’s customers, a top child agent, spotted the young Tochi running around the salon, and quickly signed to represent him. Being of Japanese descent, Tochi has frequently played characters who are Japanese, Chinese, or of other East Asian genes, adopting the appropriate accent as needed. (His primary language is English, and his off-stage speech is "fluent American".)