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At 20, Ozaki spent a year as an exchange student at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where he had his first on-camera acting experience for an American educational TV program, hinting at his potential as an actor.
He made his professional stage debut in 1994, playing the lead role of Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause, performed entirely in English, marking the start of his full-time acting career.
In 1994, he began studying acting under Yoko Narahashi at the United Performers' Studio in Tokyo. The following year, he trained with Frank Corsaro, former artistic director of the Actors Studio in New York.
Ozaki’s breakthrough came with his role as Lt. Yamamoto, a Kamikaze pilot, in the Elle Company production of The Winds Of God, one of Japan’s most popular war plays. In 1998, the play ran for a month at the Judith Anderson Theater Off-Off-Broadway in New York, followed by a national tour in Japan in 1999 and a two-month run Off-Broadway at the American Place Theater. With nearly 40,000 viewers, the production offered Ozaki significant exposure to theater audiences. Portraying the third lead, Yamamoto, he demonstrated his range in both comedy and tragedy, earning praise from New York critics in outlets such as The New Yorker, Daily News, and Newsday.
In 2003, Ozaki appeared in Warner Bros.’ period epic The Last Samurai. He was recognized by the film’s stunt coordinator, Nick Powell, and joined the Battle Corps—a group of 100 Japanese actors skilled in precise swordplay for key battle scenes. Ozaki portrayed a High Ranking Samurai in Katsumoto’s (Ken Watanabe) troop during the climactic sword charge against forces wielding early Western weapons. Following this, he became a member of the Taurus World Stunt Awards Academy.
His most significant film to date is Warner Bros.' Iwo Jima battle epic Letters From Iwo Jima (2006), directed by Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood and produced by Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks, starring Ken Watanabe. Ozaki was one of only seven actors selected from mainland Japan for supporting roles. He played Lieutenant Okubo, deputy to Baron Nishi, who leads the men after Nishi’s death and sacrifices himself to save his troops during a firefight against US Marines. The film received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and the National Board of Review’s Best Film of the Year.
After relocating to the US in 2007, Ozaki guest-starred as young Kaito Nakamura, father of Hiro Nakamura, in Season 2 of NBC’s Heroes (2006). His character stops Adam Monroe from releasing a deadly virus.
He has portrayed Ishiro Honda, the legendary Japanese director behind Godzilla, in episode 405 “Tagumo attacks!!!” of CW’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (2018), and Admiral Inokuchi in a recurring guest role on Amazon Studios’ The Man in the High Castle (Seasons 3 and 4, 2018). Other roles include Masao Kume, a samurai defeating Mongols in Metanoia Films’ Little Boy (2015), which won Best Picture at the 2016 Premios Luminus Film Festival in Mexico; a Hydra prisoner on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014); as well as appearances in Masterless (2015), Extant (2014), Touch (2012), How I Met Your Mother (2005), Flashforward (2009), The Game (2006), Gaijin: Ama-me Como Sou (2005, Brazil), Born to Be King (2000, Hong Kong), Haru and Natsu (2005, NHK), Genroku Ryoran (NHK), Aguri (1997, NHK), The 8th Samurai (2009, AFI), and The Hirosaki Players (2010, TK Digital, NY).
Most recently, Ozaki played a ruthless yakuza boss in the Brazilian film Yakuza Princess (2021, Magnet Releasing) and voiced two roles—evil General Kato and young detective Hiroshi—in Marvel’s Hit-Monkey (2021, Hulu).
Awards include Best of Fest for The 8th Samurai at LA Shorts Fest 2009 (an Academy Award qualifier), Best Actor for The 8th Samurai at Show Off Your Shorts Film Festival 2009, and Best Supporting Actor for Lil Tokyo Reporter (2012) at Asians On Film Festival Awards, Winter 2013.
