Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Tohoru grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His parents emigrated together from Japan where his ancestors include Japanese novelist/playwright Hakucho Masamune. In 4th grade, Tohoru wrote and performed in his first play - He doesn't remember too much of it, but does seem to recall it being somewhat of a hit at his elementary school! His immediate family eventually settled in Newton (suburb of Boston), Massachusetts, and Noank, Connecticut.
As an chemical engineering student at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), where his father was a world-class research professor, and his sister did her post-doctoral work under a Nobel prize-winner (his grandfather also was a world-renown scientist in Japan), Tohoru was involved in the contemporary art world, working on technical crews for internationally renown installations artists, Nam Jun Paik, Brian Eno, and Bill Viola.
After college he studied theatre in London and San Francisco. Tohoru has played starring roles in theatre productions directed by Tony Award Winner Mary Zimmerman (Goodman Theatre in Chicago) and Tony Award Winner Dan Sullivan (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and he worked with playwrights A.R. Gurney (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and Tony Award Nominee Irene Mecchi (American Conservatory Theatre). Also, Tohoru was a member of the nationally recognized troupe, Theatre of Yugen, performing classical Japanese theatre (Noh/Kyogen).
He is currently appearing in Christopher Nolan's movie, "Inception". Tohoru also has a lead role (Ozu) in the SciFi channel original movie, "Warbirds", and will also appear in the upcoming feature film "Baby-O" directed by Charlie Matthau. His first acting job was as the kid next door on "Pacific Heights" directed by the late Oscar-winning director John Schelsinger.
He has made guest appearances on several TV shows including "iCarly", "Bigshots", "Heroes" (recurring as Kin Egami), "24" (He first worked with Emmy Award winning director Jon Cassar as a guest lead on the television series "The Cape"), "Without a Trace", "Chicago Hope", "Providence", "The Practice" and "Mad About You".
A principal in numerous national commercial campaigns including Coor's Light, Volvo, Yo-Plus (Yoplait), Nissan Maxima, Ikea, Ford Trucks, Subaru, Oldsmobile, Northwest Airlines, Tohoru has acted in 2 commercials directed by Zack Snyder ("300", “Watchmen”).
Currently living in the Los Feliz community of Los Angeles, Tohoru enjoys soaking in any art-form, playing ice hockey, hiking in the mountains and desert, and jamming on his Alesis keyboard.