Jai West

Jai Tatsuto West
Jai West at event for Good People in 2019
Born
Jai Tatsuto West

(1976-10-24) October 24, 1976 (age 48)
Other namesJei Uesuto
Lotus Chamelion
Occupation(s)Actor, poet
Years active1990 - Present

Jai West (ジェイ・ウェスト; born October 24, 1976) is an actor and poet of French Canadian and Japanese descent born in Vancouver, British Columbia and currently based in Tokyo, Japan.

He is best known for his work on screen as manic Japanese American gangster Lee in Sion Sono's Hazard (2005), a thief grappling with his sexual identity in Gen Sekiguchi's Survive Style 5+ (2004), and portraying Beethoven in the popular Tokyo Gas commercials. He has appeared in numerous films and television series, from 21 Jump Street (1990) to Takashi Shimizu's The Great Horror Family (2004) and Takashi Miike's Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006). West has released two spoken word poetry albums in Japanese and English under the pseudonym Lotus Chamelion.

In 2018, he became the chairman of Iron Chef Canada.