Kana Hatakeyama

Kana Hatakeyama is an award-winning Japanese and American actor and filmmaker based in New York. She recurred as 'Charlene Teng' on the last two seasons of Jenji Kohan's Orange is the New Black for Netflix. Her other film and television credits include Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), Tape (dir. Deborah Kampmeier), and Split (dir. Deborah Kampmeier). Her first film as writer-director, "okaasan (mom)," in which she also starred, premiered at Brooklyn Film Festival, followed by screenings at Dallas International Film Festival (Special Jury Award), New Orleans Film Festival (Audience Award), Nitehawk Shorts Festival (Audience Award, First Time Filmmaker Award), Nantucket Film Festival, and more. "okaasan (mom)" is now featured online at NoBudge, Directors Notes, and Future of Film is Female. Her second film as writer-director, "FITNESS! or a story about SWEAT," is currently on the festival circuit, following its world premiere at Brooklyn Film Festival in May 2020. Onstage Kana originated the role of Ashley Olsen in Mallery Avidon's "Mary-Kate Olsen is in Love" and the role of Liz Pharaoh in Adriano Shaplin's "Sarah Flood in Salem Mass," both at the Flea Theater. She also appeared in the Public Theater's much buzzed about Shakespeare in the Park production of "Julius Caesar" directed by Oskar Eustis, and played 'Orangutan/Madeleine' in the New Jersey premiere of Quiara Alegria Hudes' "Water by the Spoonful" at Premiere Stages. Other theater credits include Leah Nanako Winkler's "Double Suicide at Ueno Park!" (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Claire Kiechel's "Extinct Animals" (Ensemble Studio Theatre), workshops at Ars Nova and LAByrinth Theater Company, and more. Kana graduated from Duke University magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in International Studies and Theater, minoring in Political Science. She has trained at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, A.C.T., and the Neighborhood Playhouse, and studied with Ted Sluberski, Patsy Rodenburg, Larry Moss, Bob Krakower, and Marilyn Fried, among others. Kana speaks both Japanese and English at the native level, and is also fluent in French and Spanish, having spent time living in France and Argentina.