Yamashita Tomohisa

Profile

* Name: 山下智久 (やました ともひさ)
* Name (romaji): Yamashita Tomohisa
* Former name: 青木智久 / Aoki Tomohisa
* Nicknames: Yamapi, Tomo-chan, TomoPi, Pi, P-chan
* Profession: Actor and singer
* Birthdate: 1985-Apr-09
* Birthplace: Chiba, Japan
* Height: 175cm* (http://i18.tinypic.com/4z0te7t.jpg)
* Weight: 60kg* (http://i18.tinypic.com/4z0te7t.jpg)
* Star sign: Aries
* Blood type: A
* Family: Mother (Naomi) and younger sister (Rina)
* Talent agency: Johnny's Entertainment (http://www.johnnys-net.jp)

TV Shows

* Code Blue as Aizawa Kousaku (Fuji TV, 2008)
* Proposal Daisakusen SP as Iwase Ken (Fuji TV, 2008)
* Proposal Daisakusen as Iwase Ken (Fuji TV, 2007)
* Byakkotai as Sakai Shintaro & Sakai Mineji (TV Asahi, 2007)
* Kurosagi as Kurosaki (TBS, 2006)
* Nobuta wo Produce as Kusano Akira (NTV, 2005)
* Dragon Zakura as Yajima Yusuke (TBS, 2005)
* Sore wa, Totsuzen, Arashi no you ni... as Fukazawa Takuma (TBS, 2004)
* Budo no Ki (Grapevine) as Shindo Yosuke (2003)
* Stand Up!! as Iwasaki Kengo (TBS, 2003)
* Lunch no Joou as Nabeshima Koshiro (Fuji TV, 2002)
* Long Love Letter as Otomo Tadashi (Fuji TV, 2002)
* Shounen wa Tori ni Natta as Nagashima Ken (TBS, 2001)
* Kabachitare as Tamura Yuta (Fuji TV, 2001)
* All Star Chushingura Matsuri as Asano Takumi (2000)
* Shijo Saiaku no Date as Okamura Yuki (2000, ep1)
* Ikebukuro West Gate Park as Mizuno Shun (TBS, 2000)
* Kiken na Kankei as Miyabe Satoshi (Fuji TV, 1999, ep10-11)
* Kowai Nichiyobi (NTV, 1999, ep13)
* P.P.O.I. as Amano Tairo (NTV, 1999)
* Nekketsu Renaido (NTV, 1999, ep7)
* Shounentachi as Kakuda Shinya (NHK, 1998)

TV Show Theme Songs

* Daite Senorita, Kurosagi opening theme song (2006)
* Seishun Amigo, Nobuta wo Produce opening theme song, with Kamenashi Kazuya (2005)
* Colorful (カラフル), Dragon Zakura insert song (2005)


Movies

* Kurosagi (http://www.kurosagi-movie.jp/) (2008)
* Shinrei Surfer no Shi (1996)

Biography

He entered Johnny & Associates when he was 11 years old. He is affectionately called YamaPi (short for Yamashita and pink) by his friends, which is a nickname given to him by Hideaki Takizawa. His closest friends call him by the name "Pi", which was first used by his best friend Akanishi Jin.

Yamapi's weight at birth is 3600grams. When he was young, he loved to go to the park and play with the sandpit. His father left the family when he was young, that's why he changed his name. When he was transferred to another school, a boy expressed his love to him. Apparently, the boy mistook him for a girl. The sports that he learned from kindergarten to Primary 4 are karate and baseball. Yamapi got a purple belt for Karate. He joined the Athletes club in Junior High for swimming and short running in which he got a record of 7.6 seconds in 50m short run.

Johnny's Junior

Since joining Johnnys, he has been a member of Jr. groups B.I.G., Four Tops, and most recently NEWS. Yamashita began to appear in television dramas soon after he joined Johnnys. In 2000, at age 15, his performance in Ikebukuro West Gate Park earned him an award for "Best Supporting Actor". That same year, he was voted first place in the Annual Junior Awards for "Best Boyfriend", "Most Beautiful", etc. for the first time.

When Takizawa made his debut with Tsubasa Imai as Tackey & Tsubasa in 2002, he left as the leader of Johnny's Juniors. Around the same time, Yamashita and fellow Juniors Toma Ikuta, Jun Hasegawa, and Shunsuke Kazama formed Four Tops. Four Tops then began to host the Junior television program, The Shōnen Club.

Post-Debut

In September 2003, eight other boys from Johnny's Juniors were chosen to form the group NEWS with Yamashita as the leader. NEWS's formation came as a shock to not only the fans of Four Tops but its own members as well. Yamashita later revealed that at the time, aside from Ryo Nishikido, he had barely talked to any of the other group members since they were all juniors in relation to his status within Johnny's and he had been informed that the group would merely be a temporary one-month unit. In fact, he also shared that he had never met Yuya Tegoshi before, and their first meeting ever was as fellow band mates. At the time Yamashita had been with Johnny's for around 7 years, whereas Tegoshi had only been around for 10 months.

NEWS made its formal debut on May 12, 2004. Since its debut, NEWS has had all consecutive #1 singles on the Oricon Ranking Chart.

In October 2005, Yamashita and Kamenashi Kazuya from KAT-TUN formed Shuuji to Akira to promote their drama, Nobuta wo Produce. It was named after their characters in the show, Shuuji and Akira. They also released a single, Seishun Amigo, as Shuuji to Akira, which sold over one million copies in four weeks. Seishun Amigo was the number one best selling single on the Oricon Yearly Single Rankings for 2005. NEWS, however, was temporarily disbanded and all group activities suspended after the suspension of two of its members for underage drinking.

In spring 2006, Yamashita starred in Kurosagi, a drama based on the manga of the same name. For this purpose, Yamashita recorded his first single as a solo artiste "Daite Señorita" which was #1 in the Oricon ranking.And was ranked 4th best selling single of 2006.

As of June 2006, he became part of an unofficial group within Johnny's Entertainment called "No Border", which includes members: Matsumoto Jun of Arashi, Murakami Shingo of Kanjani8, Satou Atsuhiro of Hikaru Genji, Ikuta Toma of Johnny's Junior's, Domoto Koichi of Kinki Kids, Yamaguchi Tatsuya of TOKIO and Takizawa Hideaki of Tackey & Tsubasa. The group was formed when the 8 members from different JE groups met up for dinner and decided to name themselves No Border. They are known to interact freely, bypassing the sempai-kouhai relationships formed by JE. There is a 7 part round-robin on their jwebs about the formation of the group. Each member has a specific color - White, Black, Red, Pink, Purple, Gold, Blue, Grey. However, who holds which color is still unknown.

In the latter half of 2006, Yamashita and Thai brother duet Golf & Mike teamed up with Kitayama Hiromitsu (Kis-my-ft2), Inoo Kei (J.J. Express), Totsuka Shota (A.B.C.), and Yaotome Hikaru (Ya-Ya-Yah), to form a temporary unit called Kitty GYM, though there has never been a second T. This unit was made to cheer on the Japan Women's Volleyball team, and they released a single in August called "Fever to Future" under the name "GYM" which stands for Golf, Yamashita, and Mike, respectively.

Yamashita returned as a member of NEWS on 31 December 2006 on Johnny's Countdown 2006-2007.

Early 2007, Yamashita along with KAT-TUN's Koki Tanaka and Taisuke Fujigaya of Kis-my-ft2, starred in Byakkotai, a two-part mini-drama.

Kurosagi, a movie spun-off from the TBS drama, was released on 8 March 2008. Yamashita starred in the film, making this his first starring role in a movie. Yamashita announced on March 15, 2008 that he was 6 credits short from graduating from Meiji University. He will aim to graduate in September 2008.

On April 7, 2008, whilst on a private visit to Korea with some friends, Yamashita was harassed by a mob of approximately 1,000 Korean fans while trying to depart from the airport. Although he emerged from the mob unscathed, his clothes were torn and he reportedly had gifts thrown at him, which hit him on the head. Yamashita has stated that it is not such a big deal, and that he is okay.