Takeda began his career on-camera as a television news reporter in Pocatello, Idaho in 1990, before transitioning to producing for stations in Toledo, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Denver, Colorado. He worked as a photojournalist/producer for the CBS-owned television station KCNC in Denver, from 1992 until 1994. From 1995 to 1997, he was a Producer and Director for the syndicated children's show News-for-Kids.
Takeda runs Takeda Entertainment, a production company that produces corporate films and documentaries, including the Emmy-nominated 1996 documentary The Holocaust: Colorado Remembers, which he wrote, directed and produced. In 2016, Takeda and his filmmaking partners at BS Filmworks signed an agreement with ShortsTV for US television distribution of their short film If Not Now. ShortsTV also purchased US and international distribution rights for the BS Filmworks short The Decision. Both films were directed by Lori Allred and produced by Takeda and Brock Sherman. Takeda's 2017 short film The Outsider, which he wrote, directed and starred in, and produced with Allred and Sherman, premiered at the Denver Film Festival in November 2017, and was named runner-up for the True Grit Award for Colorado Filmmakers.
Takeda's television acting debut came with a guest star role on Easy Money on The CW in 2009. He later played the character of Stella's father, Mr. Yamada, in the 2011 Disney Channel TV movie Lemonade Mouth. In 2015, he guest starred on the television series American Crime (ABC), The Messengers (The CW) and Grimm (NBC), as well as Halt and Catch Fire on AMC, Drop Dead Diva (Lifetime) and Star-Crossed (The CW) in 2014.
Takeda portrayed a bank manager in the film Everything Must Go (2010), starring Will Ferrell; Mr. Yamata in Dallas Buyers Club (2013), directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto; and a television Producer in Gone Girl (2014), directed by David Fincher and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. He appeared in the 2016 film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, produced by Lorne Michaels, and starring Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton and Alfred Molina. He filmed two supporting roles where his scenes were ultimately cut: in Fair Game (2010), starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, and Little Fockers (2010), starring Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Takeda appears in the film The Tale, directed by Jennifer Fox and starring Laura Dern, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
As a still Photographer, he has exhibited his work at galleries around Colorado, and had a show at the Split Gallery in Croatia in 2015. He did a segment on KUSA-TV's 9News in 2016, showing photos from his Scene Street Story collection and offering photography tips to viewers.
Takeda is a SAG-AFTRA actor. He studied improvisational comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles. He performs regularly with an improv troupe in Denver. In 2014, he starred in Working Together, an improv show stylized like a 1990s sitcom that premiered at the Voodoo Comedy Playhouse in Denver, and had a 2015 run at The Box Performance Space in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was the keynote speaker at the University of Colorado's CU Boulder Asian Graduation Celebration on May 6, 2017.
