Horikita Maki

Profile

* Name: 堀北真希 (ほりきた まき)
* Name (romaji): Horikita Maki
* Nicknames: Maki-maki, Homaki, Makinpo, Horikitty, Pori chan
* Profession: Actress
* Birthdate: 1988-Oct-06
* Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan
* Height: 160cm
* Star sign: Libra
* Blood type: B
* Talent agency: Sweet Power (http://www.sweetpower.jp/)

TV Shows

* Hanazakari no Kimitachi e SP as Ashiya Mizuki (Fuji TV, 2008)
* Tokyo Daikushu as Sakuragi Haruko (NTV, 2008)
* Atsu-hime as Kazunomiya Chikako (NHK, 2008)
* Koi no Kara Sawagi Drama Special Love Stories IV (NTV, 2007)
* Galileo (Fuji TV, 2007, ep6)
* Deru Toko Demasho! as Shizuka Kamei (Fuji TV, 2007)
* Hanazakari no Kimitachi e as Ashiya Mizuki (Fuji TV, 2007)
* Seito Shokun! as Kimura Juria (TV Asahi, 2007)
* Teppan Shoujo Akane!! as Kagura Akane (TBS, 2006)
* Densha Otoko Deluxe as Yamada Aoi (Fuji TV, 2006)
* Kurosagi as Yoshikawa Tsurara (TBS, 2006)
* Tsubasa no Oreta Tenshitachi as Yuna (Fuji TV, 2006)
* Nobuta wo Produce as Kotani Nobuko (NTV, 2005)
* Densha Otoko as Yamada Aoi (Fuji TV, 2005)
* Akechi Kogorou VS Kindaichi Kousuke (2005)
* Ningen no Shoumei as Kouri Sayaka (Fuji TV, 2004)
* Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro (怪談新耳袋) 幽霊屋敷と呼ばれる家 (TBS, 2004)
* Division 1 Houkago as Michida Mayuko (Fuji TV, 2004)
* Doubutsu no Oisha-san (2003)
* Keitai Deka Zenigata Mai as Zenigata Mai (TBS, 2003)
* Densha (2003)

Movies

* ARCANA (2008)
* Tokyo Shonen (2008)
* Kurosagi (http://www.kurosagi-movie.jp/) (2008)
* Always - Zoku 3chome no Yuhi (http://www.always3.jp/) (2007)
* Koisuru Nichiyoubi Watashi Koishita (http://w3.bs-i.co.jp/jbreak/koisuru/watakoi/index.html) (2007)
* Argentine Baba (http://www.arubaba.com/) (2007)
* Chakusin Ari FINAL / One Missed Call FINAL (http://www.chakuari.jp/web/)(2006)
* Keitai Deka THE MOVIE (2006)
* TRICK Movie 2 (2006)
* Haru no Ibasho (2006)
* Always - 3chome no Yuhi / Always - Sunset on Third Street (http://www.always3.jp/05/) (2005)
* Shinku (http://www.shinku.jp/site.html) (2005)
* HINOKIO (http://www.hinokio-movie.com/index2.html) (2005)
* Gyakkyou Nine (http://www.gk9.jp/) (2005)
* Yogen (2005)
* HIRAKATA (http://www.gaga.ne.jp/hirakata/top.html) (2004)
* Sekai no Chuushin de Ai o Sakebu (2004)
* Shibuya Kaidan 2 (2004)
* Shibuya Kaidan (2004)
* Seventh Anniversary (2003)
* Cosmic Rescue (2003)

BIOGRAPHY

Childhood

Maki Horikita was born the eldest of three girls on 6 October 1988 in Kiyose, Tokyo, Japan. She was boyish during her childhood days, like in middle school, she enjoyed playing basketball and baseball with her friends on holidays. While she was in junior high, she preferred to play Dragon Ball Z with the boys more than playing with the girls. This was because with the girls, she couldn’t play the princess the way she wanted in the princess make-believe games.

When she attended as a guest on KAT-TUN's variety show, Cartoon KAT-TUN, she stated that she loved imitating her mother when she was young.

Education

In her junior high years, she served as student council vice-president and basketball club vice-captain. She was also described as the “Boss of 3-C” in a number of various writings, in recognition of her status as class leader. As she became more active in the entertainment industry, she put her club and council activities on hold. Being unable to meet her many commitments and after much deliberation, she finally withdrew from her school activities, plainly concentrating on her studies and career.

After completing her senior high education, she passed the entrance examination for Chuo University, known for its Law school, but it is uncertain whether she will study Law.

CAREER

Modeling

Later in 2003, Horikita started to model for various advertisements and star in TV dramas and films in supporting roles. Her first photobooks featured her as a mild-themed gravure model. However, her career in the said modeling field was indeed short-lived since she gradually dropped gravure-themed modeling when she started to get busy with TV appearances.

Her well-known commercials are her advertisements for Fujifilm (wherein she appeared alongside Japanese idol Nagase Tomoya) and Lotte (particularly for its sub-brands Ghana and Airs). Her current advertisements for the said chocolate brand are its Ice Yogurt and Shasha.

Horikita has appeared in numerous men's and teenage magazines, most of them featuring her on the cover.

Media

Currently, Horikita is a constantly praised U-20 Japanese idol, her rise to fame seemingly gradual but certain.

Television

In 2005, she gained much recognition from her back-to-back TV dramas, Densha Otoko and Nobuta wo Produce.

Her exemplary portrayal in Nobuta wo Produce as the shy Nobuko Kotani, bagged her a Best Supporting Actress award in a Japanese award-giving body. On the other hand, the chemistry between her character, Nobuko, commonly known as Nobuta, and Kusano Akira, played by Japanese male idol Tomohisa Yamashita, was recognized as well, leading both of them to star in another drama, Kurosagi. Horikita bagged her second Best Supporting Actress award from the same award-giving body for her performance in this drama.

Come 2007, her role as Ashiya Mizuki in the Japanese adaptation of the gender-bender manga Hana-Kimi, or Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, earned her a Best Actress award, her first one to date. After filming the series, she has been attending press conferences for her three projects: the Taiga drama, Atsuhime; the suspense movie where she plays the lead character who has a multiple personality disorder, Tokyo Shōnen, and the sequel of her breakthrough movie, Always: Sunset on Third Street.

All her exceptional work paid off when Horikita was chosen by Vogue Nippon as one of its eleven Women of the Year (award) for 2007. Recipients of this same award include Ayase Haruka and Anna Tsuchiya.

Radio

Horikita is also one of the six young female hosts of the radio show, GIRLS LOCKS!, a sub-portion of the Japanese radio program, SCHOOL OF LOCKS!. She usually gives her letter-senders a call as a form of reply and gives book recommendations to her listeners. Her stint is at ten in the evening, every third or fourth week of the month. Other hosts of this radio show include Yui Aragaki and Erika Toda.

Voice Acting

She has also debuted as an anime seiyu for a Doraemon animated movie, Nobita and the Green Giant Legend 2008‎ as the young princess of the "Green Planet," who transfers all of Earth's plants there because of the Earth's advancing environmental destruction.

On January 20, 2008, she did a public 'after-recording' at a studio in Meguro, Tokyo for the Doraemon movie, along with other guest voice actors like Maria Genesis (GT). She already has done a voice recording for a video game series, Professor Layton series since 2006, but she said it's harder to get used to dubbing in the animation, than it is for the game. She was asked who, in the Doraemon series, is her favorite type of a boy. She replied that she has a lot in common with Nobita; a similar interest in sleeping, string figures, and shooting (as seen in western movies).

Trivia

* When she was young, she wanted to become Sailor Moon, a female ninja, a policewoman, and a rich person.
* On her days off, she generally spends it indoors. If outdoors, she can be spotted shopping with friends or going to the karaoke.
* She treasures her family and enjoys spending time with them. Their family is well accustomed with cooking.
* She can quickly sleep anywhere in any given condition, i.e. standing on a public shuttle train.
* In middle school, she had a boyfriend of three years. “They’d split up time and time again, but they usually worked out their differences and it continued like this for three years," according to acquaintances.
* She has a weird fetish for insects.
* She’s highly capable of reading the questioner’s mind, making her see through the answers in multiple-choice tests. She has mentioned that she can score 40 points on multiple-choice questions alone. (A good proportion of the correct answers in the national language test are “u” ("c" in Western culture), according to her).
* She likes the band EXILE very much. According to her official blog, she even had a miniature flag for EXILE during the band's summer concert.
* She’s under the same agency as Meisa Kuroki and is good friends with her. A year and a half since graduating from middle school, they were on living terms at the agency’s dormitories. (from SPA!) She is highly appreciative of Meisa’s leading stage roles in “Atami Satsujin Jiken (Atami Murder Case)” and “Azumi".
* Because of the shadow patterns that fall on her face and the ambience that results, she has made countless appearances as the lead of horror films.
* She is very comfortable with fellow Hana-Kimi actor, Toma Ikuta. In fact, as of July 2007, Ikuta has guested twice in her radio show.
* She was once rumoured to have been dating Kazuya Kamenashi of J-Pop Idol Group KAT-TUN, her co-star from the 2005 hit drama "Nobuta wo Produce" but apparently Kamenashi is only a friend with whom she chats over the phone.
* The first time she ate Toro (a kind of Japanese Sushi) was during a Sushi Battle between fellow actors of Nobuto wo Produce. This involved each person choosing a piece of sushi from a large plate, one piece of which had a large dollop of wasabi in it. Maki Horikita lost the battle because she ate the wasabi and was speechless for several seconds.