Gerard Laracy

Born in 1970 in Pukekohe, Auckland, the family then moved to Lower Hutt ,Wellington at around age 3. In 1984 he began training in Japanese martial arts under Mark Pennell of Kei Shin Kan Karate. Gerard competed in tournaments to Regional and National levels until 1988. He attended Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) majoring in Japanese and Chinese languages, and here he first practiced Kendo, Yang style Tai-Chi Quan (hand and sword forms) and Bujinkan Ninjutsu. At age 20, taking a gap year from university he decided to become a specialist in Asian languages through direct experience and spent 15months living in Japan. Back in New Zealand once again, while working out at a local gym he was approached to do an extra role as a military policeman (MP) in the 1992 NZ movie Absent Without Leave (AWOL) with Craig McLachlan. At the end of the same year he headed back to Japan on a one-year scholarship to Osaka University of Foreign Studies, OUFS (Osaka Gai Dai) to improve his language skills and continue training in Bujinkan. After finishing the year in Osaka he headed to Beijing to work on his Mandarin at a small language school in Beijing. By the time he completed the VUW degree in Asian Languages in 1994 he had already spent over 2 years in Japan and travelled around most of Asia. Still passionate to learn about Japan and Asia he returned to Japan in 1995 on a post-graduate scholarship from Japan Ministry of Education to research in Political Science. After another 6months in OUFS he went to start post grad courses at Sophia University in Tokyo and was later accepted to the PhD. program in International Relations. While a post-graduate student at university in Japan he began to work for the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) dealing with issues on international access to the Japanese market and continued working there until 2001. Since 1995 he also began to get involved in the TV industry. He appeared in numerous TV shows and TV Commercials, print advertising etc. appearing on such programs as Kitano Takeshis "Koko wa hen da yo Nihonjin". He decided to postpone his career in academia after landing his first major role as Mamirov the Russian assassin in "Abunai Deka Forever:The Movie" in 1997. His fluent Japanese opened doors for jobs as an interpreter (e.g. Interpreting for K1 Grand Prix kick-boxers) live presentation roles (e.g. Tokyo Motor Show), work as a fixer on movie sets (MTV Road Rules) in 2001, taking a break from a busy life in Japan he decided to return to New Zealand and follow his deep interest in natural health and nutrition and attended colleges of Osteopathy and Naturopathy and Meditation. But 3 years later he headed back into the hustle and bustle of Asia and spent 2 years doing a product sourcing business in China and in 2006 was back in Tokyo. In 2006 he once again appeared in the movies as a Zombie in "Kisarazu Cats Eye World Series" with Chiaki Kuriyama. While working for Academy Award winning Japanese production house Robot Communications and still actively auditioning for various roles, in 2008 he was back in a larger role as Russian Mafia boss "DekaMafia" in "Sushi Prince Goes to New York" with Tsuyoshi Ihara and action scenes fighting Domoto Koichi of "Kinki Kids" boy band fame. Soon after the release of Sushi King a job offer to do a new business with Spain caught his attention. He is now based on the island of Mallorca in Spain where he is a natural therapist and teaches meditation.