John Wick 4's Rina Sawayama Shares Swimsuit Photo From Texas
Sarah Parker John Wick: Chapter 4 star Rina Sawayama is in Texas, but she's dreaming of beautiful Ibiza. Sawayama, 33, shared pictures of herself soaking up the sun in the OKU resort on the Spanish island, looking serene and sunkissed in a white bikini. "Body is in Texas, mind is in Ibiza 🧘🏻♀️," she captioned the post. Sawayama says getting the role in John Wick was an incredibly intense experience—here's what her training looked like.
Sawayama was ahead of the curve when it came to Asian skincare brands. "I always hoarded skincare when I went to Japan for my summer holidays, so I remember getting a lot of drugstore makeup and skincare," she says. "I think one of my first purchases was eye makeup — clear mascara and light blue eyeshadow. I have a skincare subscription from Dermatica which, across the year, is a splurge. I also use Athletic Greens to get my vitamins and minerals for the day."
Sawayama's beauty idol is her mother. "She's like 60 and she has no wrinkles," she says. "I asked her, 'What's your skin skincare routine?' She's like, 'I use baby oil, then I wash my face with shampoo. I'm like, okay, well I need to ditch my ten step Korean skin care routine because I don't need to do all that!"
Sawayama was in disbelief when she got the role of Akira in John Wick: Chapter 4. "John Wick is a miracle movie to me," she says. "I've been doing auditions and self-tapes in the background of music for years, but I hadn't landed anything. Then I got a call from Chad Stahelski, the director, and he'd seen my music videos. He asked what I was doing for the next three months. I'd finished the bulk of my writing for the second record and had a gap in my schedule. I was in Berlin three days later. The ink on the contract hadn't even dried when I began stunt training."
Sawayama's training for John Wick: Chapter 4 was intense—five weeks of work every day, including night shoots. "A tour is easy compared to this," she says. "It was the most intense thing I've ever done. In music, I know what I'm doing onstage. I know my groove. But acting is completely new, and I was learning in a very high-pressure situation. It taught me I can push myself even more. We did five hours of exercise every day — and there were times I'd get through half the day and really not want to do it. But you push through. When I feel like I'm dying, I can tap into this place, locate where the tiredness is, and shine a light on it."
Sawayama loves the beauty communities on Instagram. "When I was growing up, I'd look at Dior in the 2000s, when Pat McGrath was doing like these amazing, insane looks," she says. "We didn't have as much access to stuff like that, but now we have all these beauty communities on Instagram. I think that's the strength of Instagram, to be able to tap into these communities that will appreciate your creativity. I think that's been a really positive thing. People are not as self conscious, maybe. Previously, you'd have to look at magazines and archives and books, but now you don't because of Instagram."
