Tatsuya began his acting career at only ten years of age, when he starred as one of the main characters in a Jidaigeki called Spirit of the Dragon. Due to his young age, he had a hard time remembering his character's name, so they decided to use his real name in the drama, because they felt he has a very strong samurai-like name that fit well. Thirteen years later, Tatsuya is still the star of the same TV drama, and is one of Japan's unofficial treasures. Fans of the show have been able to grow along side Tatsuya. Since the original airing of Spirit of the Dragon, Tatsuya has featured in other small TV shows and films, but SpriDra remains his best known role.

Outside of filming, Tatsuya is a man of few words. He's incredibly shy, and absolutely hates having to give interviews. Having lived off of script after script for almost 13 years, he finds talking for himself to be incredibly difficult. Though he does try his best, he always dreads live interviews.

A few weeks before his 18th birthday, Tatsuya was attacked by a fan of the drama. Sources say she was enraged by the death of her favorite character, whom died protecting Tatsuya's character. As a result of the attack, he was left hospitalized for over a month and was left with a scar over his right eye. The scar caused him great anxiety, so the writers of the show incorporated into the show as having been received while protecting a citizen. 

• Tatsuya’s characters name was going to be Hakuryū, using the kanji "White Dragon", but he couldn’t seem to remember to respond to this name. Thus they went with his real name Tatsuya, which uses the kanji "dragon-assertive."
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