Kamenashi Kazuya

Profile

* Name: 亀梨和也 (かめなし かずや)
* Name (romaji): Kamenashi Kazuya
* Nicknames: Kame, Kame-chan, Ka-kun
* Profession: Actor, singer and host
* Birthdate: 1986-Feb-23
* Birthplace: Edogawa, Tokyo, Japan
* Height: 171cm
* Weight: 54kg
* Star sign: Pisces
* Blood type: B
* Family: Two older brothers, one younger brother, and one niece
* Talent agency: Johnny's Entertainment

Early life

Born in Edogawa, Tokyo on February 23, 1986, Kamenashi is the third child of his family. He has two older brothers, Yūichirō and Kōji, and one younger brother, Yūya. He also has one niece from his second brother's marriage. His given name comes from a character from the manga, Touch, written by a famous mangaka, Mitsuru Adachi. An avid baseball fan and player like his namesake, Kamenashi once represented his country in the junior world leagues as shortstop though he had to give up the sport professionally due to lack of spare time after he was accepted into Johnny's Entertainment at age 12. During the audition stages for the agency, he was coincidentally in the same interview group as current KAT-TUN bandmates, Jin Akanishi and Yuichi Nakamaru.

Recording career

Pre-debut

Made up of five other members (Akanishi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Tatsuya Ueda and Nakamaru), Kamenashi is the "K" of KAT-TUN and together with Akanishi, he is one of the two main vocalists and arguably the most popular members of the group. Although he is the youngest of the six, he is considered their unofficial front man being good at public speaking and often acting as MC for KAT-TUN on television programs and concerts.

Though the group was originally chosen and formed as backup dancers for Kōichi Dōmoto of KinKi Kids in 2001, their unexpected popularity led the talent agency to allow them to expand into a separate group which, strangely enough, was not allowed to make their debut until 5 years after their formation. Nakamaru later indicated that over time, the group had become increasingly worried that they would never be an established act and Kamenashi and Akanishi went to their agency's president to talk about the problem. They received assurances that the members needed only to concentrate on their present work and were told to keep the faith.

Solo ventures

In 2005, Kamenashi co-starred in the television school drama, Nobuta wo Produce, with Tomohisa Yamashita of NEWS. The opening theme for the show, Seishun Amigo, was released as a single under the name Shūji to Akira ("Shūji and Akira"), after the names of their respective characters. Seishun Amigo was a massive hit debuting at number 1 upon its release on November 2, 2005 and sold more than 1 million copies in less than 4 weeks. It went on to spend 34 weeks in the Oricon weekly singles chart and became the best-selling single of 2005 in Japan. The song also continued its lengthy chart run into early 2006 and became the third best-selling song of 2006. Kamenashi has also written and performed a song named Kizuna for the second season of Gokusen which was one of the B-sides on the Seishun Amigo single and also penned a duet with bandmate Junnosuke Taguchi called Special Happiness.
Commercial success with KAT-TUN

KAT-TUN's vast fanbase made it one of Japan's most prominent J-pop idol groups by 2006 and the group officially debuted on March 22, 2006 with their single Real Face, which debuted at number 1 on the Oricon weekly singles charts selling over more than 700,000 copies before going on to sell more than a million units by the end of the year. Their debut album, Best of Kat-Tun (also released on the same day as Real Face), featuring songs made popular during their live performances and some which were written for the album, sold more than 500,000 copies in its first week and also topped the Oricon album chart. Two singles from KAT-TUN's second album, SIGNAL and Bokura no Machi de, debuted at number 1 upon their releases selling more than 400,000 units in July and December 2006 respectively in the first week.

Two weeks before the release of the album, the group's late-night talk show, Cartoon KAT-TUN, began airing on April 4, 2007 and is still broadcasted weekly on Wednesday nights on NTV. Their sophomore record, Cartoon KAT-TUN II You, was finally released on April 18, 2007 and continued their chart-topping act when it debuted at number 1 with more than 270,000 copies sold. KAT-TUN's extraordinary chart-run continued when singles from KAT-TUN's third album, Yorokobi no Uta, Keep the Faith and LIPS all debuted at number 1 in June 2007, November 2007 and February 2008 respectively selling more than 1 million units altogether before the group's third album, KAT-TUN III -Queen of Pirates-, was released in June 2008. Their third original album again peaked at number 1 upon its release moving more than 240,000 copies in its first week. The group's seventh single, DON'T U EVER STOP, continued their success on the music charts when it debuted at number 1 selling 381,672 copies. As of July 2008, KAT-TUN has sold over 5 million records in just over two years.

Acting career

Kamenashi made his acting debut in October 1999 in the fifth season of 3 nen B gumi Kinpachi Sensei as Akihiko Fugakawa. Unlike most Japanese television dramas, the series ran for 23 episodes and ended in March 2000. He later reprised his role in the epilogue special episode which aired in 2001. Kamenashi also began appearing on stage in supporting roles of musicals, SHOW geki SHOCK, SHOCK is Real SHOCK and DREAM BOY from 2001 to 2004. In late 2004, he took over the lead role in DREAM BOY from Hideaki Takizawa and also played the lead character in later seasons of the musical in January 2006, September 2007 and March 2008.

Kamenashi only returned to the small screen as an actor four years later in 2005 starring opposite Yukie Nakama and bandmate Jin Akanishi in the second season of Gokusen as Ryū Odagiri, a troubled high school student. The show remained popular with viewers finishing its run with an average viewership rating of 27.8% and was awarded "Best Drama" while Kamenashi was awarded "Best Supporting Actor" at the 44th Television Drama Academy Awards. Additionally, he also won "Best Supporting Actor" for his performance at the 8th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix. He also co-starred with Juri Ueno the same year in the special television movie of Kinda'ichi Shōnen no Jikenbo taking over the role of Hajime Kinda'ichi from Jun Matsumoto who last portrayed it in 2001. Kamenashi capped the year with his lead role of Shūji Kiritani in Nobuta wo Produce which won him further acting accolades when he was named "Best Lead Actor" at the 47th Television Drama Academy Awards. The show also won "Best Drama" at the 9th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix.

In 2006, Kamenashi starred in Fuji TV's romance drama, Suppli, and was the lead character in NTV's two-part tv movie, Yuuki, based on a true story of a man who died at 23 years old after being diagnosed with an illness that started with the partial collapse of his cranial bone resulting in a subsequent battle with seven types of incurable diseases. This tanpatsu was highly rated with an average viewership rating of 22.7%. Kamenashi also starred opposite Haruka Ayase and bandmate Koki Tanaka in romance drama, Tatta Hitotsu no Koi, the same year. KAT-TUN's third single, Bokura no Machi de, served as the ending theme for the series. He only made one guest appearance in 2007 in the ninth episode of Tanaka's comedy series, Tokkyu Tanaka 3 Go, before taking on the lead role of Kosaku Hatanaka in the live-action adaptation of manga, 1 Pound no Fukuin, in 2008.

Other ventures

Radio

Kamenashi joined the rest of his KAT-TUN bandmates as a radio host on April 4, 2008 when he launched a twenty-minute radio segment, Kamenashi Kazuya Kase by Kase, which airs every Friday night in two parts. This is in addition to KAT-TUN's other existing radio programs, KAT-TUN STYLE, which is broadcasted from Monday to Thursday from 2006 onwards ( usually airing for 10 minutes) and hosted by Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka and formerly Jin Akanishi. R-ONE KAT-TUN, a 30-minute program broadcasted on Tuesdays has been hosted by Tatsuya Ueda and Yuichi Nakamaru also since 2006.

TV Shows

* 1 Pound no Fukuin as Hatanaka Kosaku (NTV, 2008)
* Tokkyu Tanaka San Go as Shibahara Toru (TBS, 2007, ep9)
* Tatta Hitotsu no Koi as Kanzaki Hiroto (NTV, 2006)
* Kuitan (NTV, 2006, SP, cameo)
* Yuuki as Yuuki (NTV, 2006)
* Suppli as Ishida Yuya (Fuji TV, 2006)
* Nobuta wo Produce as Kiritani Shuji (NTV, 2005)
* Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo 2005 as Kindaichi Hajime (NTV, 2005)
* Gokusen 2 as Odagiri Ryu (NTV, 2005)
* 3 nen B gumi Kinpachi Sensei 5 as Fukagawa Akihiko (TBS, 1999)


TV Show Theme Songs

* Seishun Amigo, Nobuta wo Produce opening theme song, with Yamashita Tomohisa (2005)
* Kizuna, Gokusen 2 insert song (2005)

Endorsements

* NTT DoCoMo
* SKY PerfecTV!
* Contact Lens Solution
* Lipbalm
* Nintendo Gamecube Dance Dance Revolution (2005)
* Oronamin C
* Lotte Gum (Green Apple, Blue Citrus, Pink Berry)
* Crunky Chocolate

Recognitions

* 1st Astar TV Drama Awards: Best New Asian Star of 2007 for Japan (2007)
* 24th Best Jeans Award: Best Male Jeanist (2007)
* 23rd Best Jeans Award: Best Male Jeanist (2006)
* 1st Annual 2006 NTV Commercial Award (2006)
* 47th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Actor for Nobuta wo Produce (2005)
* 44th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Gokusen 2 (2004)
* 8th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix: Best Supporting Actor for Gokusen 2 (2004-05)

Trivia

* Jpop group: KAT-TUN, Shuuji to Akira