Shun Oguri

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Shun Oguri
小栗旬
Born December 26, 1982 (1982-12-26) (age 25)
Flag of Japan Tokyo, Japan
Occupation Actor
Years active 1998 - present
Official website

Shun Oguri (小栗 旬 Oguri Shun?, born December 26, 1982 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese actor, who gained a rise in popularity by starring in the hit TV drama, Hana Yori Dango, and its sequel. His most recent role in TV drama is in Binbō Danshi as Kazumi Koyama, the lead role. He also won an award for his movie Crows Zero.

Shun made his way into the acting industry not because he knew he had a great talent for it and not because he was pursuing a passion of his, but because he was an avid admirer of Yuki Uchida, popular japanese idol in the 90's. He loved her acting and was a very big fan of hers, and because he wanted to meet her, he joined theater and acting classes. He admits he didn't really like theater or the acting classes, but somehow, his ambition to meet his idol -- and the pretty girls in his class -- kept on driving him. Now, Shun says acting is his life and wouldn't want it any other way.

His first debut role was as the bullied and abused child from the drama Great Teacher Onizuka in 1998, when he was about sixteen years old. His acting attracted him great attention and from there, he moved onto bigger roles. In 2000 he played a deaf person in Summer Snow. Two years later when he starred in the popular drama Gokusen, he made friends with the Japanese singer and actor Jun Matsumoto. This acquaintance helped Oguri to get his breakthrough role as Rui Hanazawa in Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) where they acted together. Though his first lead role in a drama was in 2006 as the famous Shin'ichi Kudo from Detective Conan. Oguri has proved his talent for lead roles, but he has stated that he actually prefers playing the supporting roles. Last year he gained even more attention starring in the drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi e as Sano Izumi. In March 2008 Oguri was given the Golden Arrow Awards in the category "Broadcast (drama)" [1] and at the same time he received the Japan Movie Critics Awards as "Best Actor" for his movie Crows ZERO [2] . His most recent role in TV drama is in Binbō Danshi as the poor college student Kazumi Koyama. In order to celebrate its 5th anniversary the Toho Cinemas in Tokyo held the "Shun Oguri Film Festival" on April 11. Four famous movies with the actor (among them Crows ZERO) were shown during the whole night. Oguri and his co-actor Mao Inoue got the newcomer awards of the Hashida Awards for their performances especially in the drama Hana Yori Dango 2 in May [3]. Besides acting, he is hosting a weekly radio show called All Night Nippon. By and large, his permanent presence in Japan’s media make Oguri one of the best known Japanese celebrities for the time being.

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[edit] Personal life

Oguri's best friend is Takashi Tsukamoto, an actor, model, and singer. Oguri and Tsukamoto acted together in a drama — Stand Up!!. Tsukamoto was a popular womanizer while Oguri's character, Kouji, and his friends tried to pick up advice and hints from the super idol so they could get a girlfriend themselves. Oguri and Tsukamoto have also modeled together in a yaoi magazine once.

Oguri's first widely publicized girlfriend was Mari Yaguchi. On April 10th, 2005, she and Oguri's relationship was uncovered by the tabloid magazine FRIDAY. Oguri and Yaguchi had been dating for a year already until then. She quit Morning Musume fifteen days after the paparazzi incident (one day before the publish of the magazine), stating that she had "betrayed [her] position as an idol" and that she "want[ed] to move on with [her] career as an adult." Fans speculated that her management, Up-Front Agency, forced her to "quit" since it is fairly understood that members of Morning Musume are not allowed to have boyfriends to uphold their pure "idol" image.[1] Several newspaper accounts note Oguri for being a gentlemen throughout the whole ordeal and realizing how much Yaguchi had to give up to be with him. The two reportedly broke up in April of 2006. The reason they told the public was because they both became too busy to see one another.

As of August 2006, it has been reported that Oguri and Miho Tanaka are going out, although both parties have declined commenting on the matter. But as of April 2007, the same tabloid magazine that uncovered Oguri and Yaguchi's relationship was also responsible for publishing photos of Oguri and Tanaka on a date.[2] Tanaka is a model, and has modeled for magazines such as Seventeen, mina, and non-no.[3] The two supposedly met early in the summer when they both modeled for mina magazine, and found that they have a common interest—surfing.

In May 2008, Japanese media reported that Oguri and the actress/model Yu Yamada were dating [4]. They first met on the set of Binbō Danshi in January, and began dating in March.

Since starring in Hanazakari no Kimitachi e together, Oguri and Toma Ikuta are very good friends. In interviews, both Oguri and Ikuta have said that they call and mail each other very often.

[edit] Trivia

  • Oguri got the role as Rui because Jun Matsumoto told the producers that if they didn't give Shun the role, he would not act as Domyouji. In real life, Matsumoto and Oguri are good friends, all the way from the Gokusen days.
  • Whenever he gets two consecutive days off from work, he likes to go surfing.
  • Oguri was one of the seiyū in the Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa together with his brother Ryo Oguri.
  • Shun Oguri, who played Noboru Yoshikawa, also played as Haruhiko Uchiyama in Gokusen. In GTO he is the one being bullied, but in Gokusen he is one of the bullies in class.
  • The listeners of All Night Nippon decide on a nickname for Shun which was Shunkerbell. When Jun Matsumoto guest on the show he thought it has something to do with Tinkerbell.
  • He is left-handed.
  • He can speak English, but not fluently, though he did express his want to do so.
  • He took 12 takes in a kissing scene with Toma Ikuta in Hanazakari No Kimitachi E.
  • Shun has Pectus Excavatum, a disorder in the chest which makes a part of it sunken.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Dramas

[edit] Movies

[edit] Anime

[edit] Stageplays

[edit] External links and Sources

[edit] References