Tomohisa Yamashita

Biography

Tomohisa Yamashita (Japanese: 山下 智久, Hepburn: Yamashita Tomohisa; born April 9, 1985), also widely known as Yamapi (山P, YamaP), or Tomo, is a Japanese singer, actor, and TV host.
Yamashita joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates as a trainee in 1996 and made his small acting debut for NHK's Shonentachi (1998). He made his musical debut as part of idol group NEWS in 2004 and later debuted as a soloist in 2006. He launched his acting career after portraying Kusano Akira in the hit drama Nobuta Wo Produce (2005). His first major role was in 2006 when he landed the title role in Kurosagi. In October 2011, Johnny & Associates announced that Yamashita would no longer be a member of NEWS, and he would be concentrating on his solo projects as an actor and solo singer. He released his solo music under Warner Music Japan until 2016. In mid-2018, Yamashita began releasing music under Sony Music Japan; however, Johnny & Associates continued to manage the rest of his activities, though he left the agency in October 2020. As early as 2019, he signed a brokerage contract with Westbrook Entertainment, a brokerage company opened by Will Smith, to reach global audiences.
Yamashita is widely known for his many popular dramas such as Nobuta wo Produce (2005), Kurosagi (2006), Operation Love (2007), Buzzer Beat (2009), Code Blue, and 5→9 From Five to Nine (2015). His latest movie Code Blue: The Movie (2018) was the highest-grossing domestic movie in Japan that year and ranked 5th for all-time highest-grossing live action movies in Japan. In 2023, he began starring in the French-Japanese drama series Drops of God on Apple TV.

Early life

Yamashita was born as Tomohisa Aoki in Funabashi, Chiba. His parents separated when he was a child, and both Yamashita and his younger sister were raised mainly by his mother. After his father left the family, he changed his surname to his mother's. His mother's name is Naomi and his sister's name is Rina. His nickname when he was young was 'Yama'. He has been noted as an athletic person ever since he was young. When in kindergarten, he began learning karate, achieving the rank of purple belt.
Yamashita became motivated to send in his application to the talent agency Johnny & Associates after watching one of Takizawa Hideaki's dramas and aspiring to appear on television like him. He sent in applications to many agencies but only Johnny & Associates called him for an audition. In 1996, he became a trainee under Johnny & Associates as a part of group Johnny's Junior. He debuted as a singer in a then eight-member Japanese band called NEWS and as a soloist in 2006. In 1998, he later debuted as an actor with a small role in 'NHK's Shonentachi'. Since debuting, he is widely known as 'Yamapi', short for Yamashita and Pink. The nickname "Yamapi" was given to him by Takizawa Hideaki as he forgot to wear pink clothing for a performance one time and was repeatedly scolded by his coach, "Yamashita, Pink!", "Yamashita, Pink!", much to everybody's amusement. His other nicknames include 'Pi', 'Tomo-chan','Pi-Chan' or 'Pii-Tan'.
Yamashita graduated from Horikoshi Gakuen's performing arts course for high school students in 2004. In Junior High, he joined athletes club. At Horikoshi, he shared a classroom with celebrities such as Koki Tanaka, Koike Teppei, and Yu Shirota. After graduating from high school, Yamashita was accepted into Meiji University's School of Commerce. He graduated with a Commerce degree (major in marketing) in autumn 2008.

1998–2009: Early work

Yamashita made his acting debut in the acclaimed NHK drama series "Shonentachi" (the Youth) (also starring Takaya Kamikawa, Sayaka Yoshino, Aiba Masaki among others) in 1998. He gained further attention after appearing in Ikebukuro West Gate Park in 2000, with his breakthrough as an actor occurring in 2006, cast in the lead role of the television drama Kurosagi. He subsequently made his film / widescreen debut with the Kurosagi film sequel Eiga: Kurosagi in 2008. Yamashita also made his debut as a solo artist with the Kurosagi soundtrack Daite Senorita which went on to sell over 800,000 copies. He followed that up in 2007 and 2008 with roles as time-traveler Iwase Ken in the award-winning romantic comedy Proposal Daisakusen and flight doctor-in-training Aizawa Kousaku in the medical drama Code Blue. Proposal Daisakusen remains one of his most notable works, and in 2013, his character Ken's trademark line "Hallelujah chance! (ハレルヤチャンス!)" was selected by Oricon Monitor Research members as one of the most memorable signature phrases in Japanese drama history. Industry watchdog Nikkei Entertainment placed him at the top of their annual ranking of under-30 Japanese celebrities in 2008 due to his achievements in multiple entertainment fields that year. Following his work in the 2009 romance serial Buzzer Beat, Nikkei christened him the 'twenty-something ratings man', singling him out as one of the few young actors who could successfully lead romance dramas and possessed a stable ratings record despite the declining drama industry. Yamashita reprised his role as Aizawa Kousaku in the winter 2010 TV series Code Blue 2. Days after Code Blue 2 wrapped, Yamashita began filming for the live-action film adaptation of Ashita no Joe. Code Blue 2 and Buzzer Beat aired in Fuji TV's prestigious getsuku (Monday 9 p.m.) time-slot in Japan, making Yamashita the first person to have starred in two getsukus with only a single drama season in between.

2010–2019: Leading roles and hosting

From January to March 2012, NTV aired Yamashita Tomohisa Route 66: Tatta Hitori no America (山下智久・ルート６６～たったひとりのアメリカ), a travel documentary chronicling Yamashita's cross-country trip across the historic Route 66. Then, after a two-year absence, Yamashita returned to the small screen with the 2012 winter drama Saikō no Jinsei no Owarikata: Ending Planner where he portrayed the role of Ihara Masato, the reluctant heir to a funeral parlor. He also co-starred with Shingo Katori for autumn 2012 detective series Monsters.
Yamashita co-hosted Fuji TV's primetime Japanese variety show Shogeki! Sansedai Hikaku TV: Generation Tengoku (衝撃!3世代比較TV ジェネレーション天国) from January 28, 2013, until its last episode on March 10, 2014. From April 20, 2014, Yamashita started hosting a new late-night variety show titled Otona no Kiss Eigo. Later in 2015 the staffs put his name on the title show and changed to YamaPi no Kiss Eigo, with new timeslot and new format games involving speaking English. In the same year, he started a new regular radio program titled “SOUND TRIPPER“ after his old radio program "CROSS SPACE" (2012–2015) ended few weeks before. In line with the new show's title, the interFM show presented chart-topping songs from US and UK charts of that year and was broadcast five days a week, from 8:05-8:10 in the morning. The radio program was aired from 2015 to early 2017
In 2014, Yamashita was cast as the male lead in the live action film adaption of the manga Kinkyori Ren'ai (近キョリ恋愛, "Close-range Love"), in which he plays an English teacher at a high school who becomes the object of affection of his student Kururugi Uni, played by Komatsu Nana. "近キョリ恋愛" topped the Japanese box office for three consecutive weeks, earning a total 1.17 billion yen. It was the only movie with less than 200 screens (179 screens) which managed to earn over 1 billion yen in 2014.
In 2015, Yamashita starred in two drama series. The first was the TBS spring 2015 drama, "アルジャーノンに花束を" Algernon ni Hanataba wo (2015), an adaptation of the Daniel Keyes novel, Flowers for Algernon., in which he played the lead character. In fall, he starred in the romance-comedy drama 5-ji Kara 9-ji Made: Watashi ni Koi Shita Obōsan alongside actress Satomi Ishihara.
In May 2016, Yamashita starred in Takashi Miike's TerraFormars, an adaptation of the popular manga with same title, Terra Formars. In early 2016, it was also announced that Yamashita would participate in a Chinese movie production, "ReBorn" (Chinese title) or "Cyber Mission" (Japanese title), in which he played his first villain character. He costarred alongside Chinese actor Hangeng and Taiwanese actor Rydian Vaughan. The movie was released on August 3, 2018 in China and January 25, 2019 in Japan In April 2017, Yamashita and Kamenashi Kazuya starred together again in the spring drama "Boku, Unmei no Hito desu ~ I'm your Destiny" . Yamashita played the role of a mysterious man who referred to himself as "God".
9 years after the first season, Yamashita reunited with the main cast of Code Blue for a third season which aired from July to September 2017. Repeating the success of season 1 and season 2, Code Blue Season 3 ended successfully as the highest-rated drama in summer, dominating Nikkan Sport Drama Awards, Academy Drama awards and some magazine drama awards. The Code Blue series finished with Code Blue the movie, released July 27, 2018. It topped the summer box office and live action movie rankings, and at the end of the year, took the crown as the highest-grossing movie in 2018 with more than 7.17 million tickets sold and 9.23 billion yen at the box office. Code Blue is the fifth domestic live-action movie to achieve this as well as the first in fifteen years to do so; the previous film to accomplish this was Bayside Shakedown 2 in 2003.

2019–present: International roles

In 2019, he starred in the spring drama series In Hand as genius and eccentric parasitologist Tetsu Himokura, the drama involving science research and its mystery. Since 2019, Yamashita is pursuing his acting career in international projects. Most notably, he starred as a lead actor in the psychological thriller series The Head, an international production of THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO and HBO Asia. As of November 2020, Yamashita will pursue his acting career and has his eyes set on more international roles. In 2021, he starred in the Hollywood production The Man from Toronto alongside Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson. In 2022, Yamashita appeared as Akira in HBO Max's Tokyo Vice alongside Ken Watanabe and Hideaki Itō. In 2023, Yamashita starred as brilliant oenologist Issei Tomine in the live-action adaptation of legendary manga Drops of God for Hulu Japan and Apple TV+.

1996–2002: Debut with Johnny and Associates

Yamashita joined Johnny & Associates in 1996 at age 11. He started as trainee in a group called "Johnny's Junior". Johnny's Juniors appeared on music shows as their senior's backup dancers, in addition to appearing on NHK TV's "Shounen Club". Several years after entering the agency, Yamashita became one of the most popular junior members. After Takizawa Hideaki debuted as duo group Tackey & Tsubasa in 2003, Yamashita was appointed as Johnny's Junior leader.

2003–2008: Member of NEWS

In September 2003, 7 years after joining the agency, Yamashita was one of the Johnny's Juniors chosen to be part of the idol group NEWS and he subsequently formally debuted on May 12, 2004. Yamashita was often referred to as the leader of NEWS in media but members of the group, including Yamashita himself, have stated at times that he was not the de facto leader.
Together with Kazuya Kamenashi, Yamashita released the single Seishun Amigo in November 2005. The single was the soundtrack for the drama Nobuta wo Produce, starring Kamenashi and Yamashita, and it topped the Oricon yearly charts in 2005. Seishun Amigo eventually sold over 1.5 million copies and is Yamashita's best-selling single to date.

2009–2013: Solo work with singles

In 2009 Yamashita returned to solo music activities with the release of his second solo single, "Loveless×Loveless18 November 2009 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1Loveless2Crush On You3Dance Jam4After the Rain5Loveless (Instrumental)", and his first solo concert, ~Short But Sweet~ In 2010, he released his third solo single One in a Million which debuted atop the Oricon charts. This was followed by the releases of the single Hadakanbo and his first solo album, Supergood, Superbad×SUPERGOOD, SUPERBAD26 January 2011 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 25 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11抱いてセニョリータ3:342はだかんぼー (Album ver.)5:153月と太陽のラプソディ4:224Crazy You4:135サンタマリア3:196溺愛ROBOT4:007罪と罰4:118口づけでアディオス4:219青春AMIGO4:3510最後のラブ・ソング5:1311青5:16Disc 21Theme of “SUPERBAD"1:152Tokyo Sinfonietta3:343PARTY DON'T STOP3:204One in a million2:575Yours Baby3:286ONE GIRL3:187Loveless3:598ごめんね4:329Blood Diamond3:3510Sleepwalking3:2111Touch You3:2812TOMO3:2013Friday Night4:1714MOLA (R-midwest REMIX)4:12, in January 2011. His first solo tour, "Supergood, Superbad: Asia Tour 2011" kicked off on January 29, 2011, in Hong Kong.
On October 7, 2011, Johnny & Associates announced that Yamashita and Ryo Nishikido were no longer members of NEWS, and Yamashita would henceforth be concentrating on his solo projects. Yamashita later published a message through the Johnny's web (Jweb) subscription service stating that this was a decision taken after much consideration on his part.
A chance meeting at a Lady Gaga concert before production began for the 2012 drama Monsters led Katori and Yamashita to co-author the drama theme song and formed a temporary unit named "The Monsters" to release the song as a single that would later top the Oricon weekly ranking. The Monsters came together again in 2013 to co-author the track PAri-PArA for Yamashita's third album A NUDE×A NUDE11 September 2013 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1SING FOR YOU4:452怪・セラ・セラ3:103あの虹の向こうまで4:504君の風になって5:095パレード4:326EVERYBODY UP3:347原始的じゃナイト 〜アナログ ラブ〜3:478NEXTACTION4:129PAri-PArA2:5510MAGIC4:2611Stand Alone4:0912蜃気楼5:0213夏のオリオン4:33. As of 2013, all three studio albums released by Yamashita received the RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of Japan)'s Gold certification, indicating a shipment of 100,000 copies.

2014–present: Solo albums and tours

In 2014, Yamashita released two original albums: his fourth studio album, titled "YOU", and, later, a limited release of the dance mini-album titled "Asobi". After a two-year hiatus, Yamashita returned to music in January 2016. He released his first best-of album YAMA-P×YAMA-P27 January 2016 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 18 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11愛、テキサス3:312LOVE CHASE3:303ERO -2012 version-4:044怪・セラ・セラ3:115SUMMER NUDE ’134:136原始的じゃナイト 〜アナログ ラブ〜3:487HELLO3:298YOUR STEP2:399抱いてセニョリータ -2014 version-3:3210Dreamer -New Recording Version-4:52Disc 21愛、テキサス3:272LOVE CHASE3:313ERO -2012 version-4:124怪・セラ・セラ3:115SUMMER NUDE ’134:116Nocturne3:587原始的じゃナイト 〜アナログ ラブ〜4:088YOUR STEP -Tomohisa Yamashita Director’s cut-2:38 including previously released songs and the original song "Dreamer". The album reached #1 on the Oricon chart that week.
From June to August 2016, Yamashita returned with a nationwide concert tour entitled "Yamashita Tomohisa~The Best Live Tour 2016 Future Fantasy", his first concert tour since 2013's "A NUDE×A NUDE11 September 2013 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1SING FOR YOU4:452怪・セラ・セラ3:103あの虹の向こうまで4:504君の風になって5:095パレード4:326EVERYBODY UP3:347原始的じゃナイト 〜アナログ ラブ〜3:478NEXTACTION4:129PAri-PArA2:5510MAGIC4:2611Stand Alone4:0912蜃気楼5:0213夏のオリオン4:33". Due to high demand from his fans, he added additional shows for Future Fantasy Yoyogi Arena in December, 2016
In April 2017, Yamashita and Kamenashi Kazuya reunited again after 12 years, naming their 2017 unit "Kame to Yamapi" and releasing "Senaka Goshi No Chance", the title song to their drama "Boku, Unmei no Hito desu ~ I'm your Destiny". The single topped the Oricon weekly charts and sold more than 160,000 copies. Again, they performed on music shows and participated in yearly music festivals. Similar to Shuji to Akira's Seishun Amigo, Senaka Goshi No Chance proved popular for its dance.
In mid-2018, Johnny & Associates announced that Sony Music Japan (SME Japan) would act as Yamashita's new music label and his comeback to his music career after 4 years without any major release. His first SME release, "UNLEASHED×UNLEASHED28 November 2018 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1UnleAsHed3:012You Make Me3:213Paraiso3:254Right moves3:195LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME3:516秒針2:517Dancer3:548“H”3:219StrAwbErry3:0110AI3:3511With you4:10", was released November 28, 2018, containing songs mostly written and produced by himself; he wrote 11 of the album's 12 tracks. He also conducted nationwide concert tours from September through December 2018. Although Sony Music Japan serves as Yamashita's new music label since then, his main career management remained under Johnny & Associates until October 31, 2020.
Yamashita was chosen to sing the opening song for the popular anime series "Ace Attorney, season 2". The song, called "Never Lose", was released February 13, 2019. On June 19, 2019, Yamashita's new single "Change×CHANGE19 June 2019 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11CHANGE3:212Come around3:153CHANGE –Instrumental–3:19Disc 21CHANGE –Music Video–3:18" was released, the title song to his new drama In Hand which he had composed and written.
On November 11, 2020, Johnny & Associates announced that Yamashita has left Johnny & Associates on October 31. On his Instagram account, Yamashita stated that he wants to chase his childhood dreams.

Public image

In July 2020, Tomohisa was announced as one of the guest speakers for the 2020 Tomorrowland Around the World Inspiration Sessions Festival. He was one of 16 guest speakers as an international role model. In March 2021, Yamashita was officially announced as a Bulgari ambassador. In May 2021, Yamashita was officially announced as a beauty ambassador for Dior. In August 2023, Yamashita was officially announced as "Friends of the House" of Moët & Chandon
In 2020, his activities were temporarily suspended when he was seen drinking with a group of women that included one underaged woman (17 years old; legal drinking age is 20). He was later seen at the same hotel with the girl.