
Born the son of Shunji Sakai, a famous comedian in Japan, Sakai initially came to fame by fronting the group sounds band The Spiders. This group, formed in 1962, was popular throughout the 1960s; they spawned several hit songs as well as thirteen situation comedy films featuring their music. He took the title role of Songoku (Monkey) in the 1970s Japanese TV program Saiyūki. This gained him fame in many English-speaking countries in the early 1980s when it was dubbed by the BBC and retitled Monkey. Due to his fame playing the mythical character Songoku, Sakai created a dance called "the Monkey" which became a craze in Japan. Sakai went on to a successful solo career after The Spiders disbanded, and continued acting in films and on television. In 1999, he formed the band Sans Filtre with two former Spiders, Hiroshi Kamayatsu and Takayuki Inoue. They released their first album Yei Yei in 2000. Sakai is known in Japan as a car enthusiast and regularly took part in the annual Mille Miglia race in Italy with his wife as a co-driver. He won a similar Japanese road race on October 18, 2000 driving a 1947 Cisitalia 202 MM with Inoue Takayuki (the guitarist from Sans Filtre) as co-driver. Due to business commitments he gave up racing in 2002 and gave his Alfa Romeo race car to Masahiko Kondō who is also a singer and race enthusiast. He is also a hobby archer. Sakai has been married and divorced twice, and has two daughters. He is an active supporter of AIDS charities. His show-business nickname is "Machaaki".
as Monkey

as 中村右近
1994


as Monkey
1978

as Kohagura Keibun
2001

2006

1998

1980

as Kurosawa Michihiko
1995

2023

as Yuzo Nobusawa
2025

as Akira Tanaka
1964

1993
as Yuzo Tsutai
2012

as Yuzo Nobusawa
2025

2012

as Yuzo Tsutai
2012

2007

2007

as Asahi Ishikawa (Old)
2007

as Boss
2005

2004
as Kinai
1994

1993
as Sasao Kinai
1988

1987

1986

1977

1974

as Chiyomatsu Sakanoshita
1974

as Okabe
1973

1970

1970

1969

1968

as Masaaki Sakai
1968

1968

1968
as Monkey
52 ep.

as 中村右近
1 episodes

1 episodes

as Monkey
52 episodes

as Kohagura Keibun
169 episodes

1 episodes

49 episodes

19 episodes

as Kurosawa Michihiko
9 episodes

3 episodes

as 타치키 쇼고
8 episodes

1 episodes
12 episodes
2 episodes

1 episodes
1 episodes

as 宮崎健
65 episodes