Takeshi Lev Kovacs (nicknamed Tak) is a native of Harlan's World and a former member of the Colonial Tactical Assault Corps. Growing up with his sister, Reileen, they suffered an abusive childhood. Their father killed their mother and hid the body. One day his father threatened Rei, causing Kovacs to shoot and kill him. Although he doesn't share his younger sisters last name, her father is showed in flashbacks to be a white male so it's safe to assume that while Takeshi took his fathers name, Reileen would take her mothers, as their mother was of Asian descent from her family photo she shows to Takeshi.
Taken into custody by the Colonial Tactical Assault Corps, Kovacs was given the option to enlist. He agreed as long as they promised to look after Reileen. Kovacs' original sleeve was kept in storage on Harlan's World while he was needle cast off-world to begin his training.
After several years, a mission to Harlan's World brought Kovacs back into his original sleeve. During a mission against the Yakuza, he encountered his sister who was working as an enforcer for them. Kovacs immediately turned on CTAC when they tried to kill Reileen, while she turned on her Yakuza masters. Both fugitives, they fled into the wilds of Harlan's World where they encountered Quellcrist Falconer and joined her Envoys.
Following the defeat of the Uprising, Kovacs returned to criminal life and became a mercenary, and was eventually imprisoned, his Cortical Stack stored without a body for decades at a time as punishment before being paroled or hired out to work high-risk situations. His consciousness was eventually imprinted back into a new sleeve in 2384 when Laurens Bancroft "bought" his stack for Kovacs to investigate the meth's supposed murder.
Thirty years later, Takeshi was spun back up in a new body. After a series of cataclysmic events, Takeshi was forced to work with the younger version of himself, known as "Taskeshi Prime", to stop the last remaining Elder. He drew the firepower of the orbitals onto himself and was reduced to ash. Takeshi Prime lived despite the death of his future counterpart. When Poe returned from his reboot to the Nevermore, he shared a note with Annabel. They then worked together in an attempt to rebuild a fallen soul, which is presumed to be that of Takeshi Kovacs.
(Source: altered-carbon.fandom.com)
