Tomohisa Yamashita

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Tomohisa Yamashita
山下智久
Born April 9, 1985 (1985-04-09) (age 23)
Origin Flag of Japan Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Genre(s) J-pop
Years active 1996(groups)
2006(solo)
2007–present(groups)
Associated acts NEWS
Shuuji to Akira
Kitty GYM
No Border
4TOPS
B.I.G

Tomohisa Yamashita (山下 智久 Yamashita Tomohisa?, born April 9, 1985) is a member of the J-pop group NEWS from Johnny's Entertainment, Inc.

Contents

[edit] Profile

  • Name: Tomohisa Yamashita (山下智久 Yamashita Tomohisa?)
  • Nicknames: Yamapi (山P?)
  • Birthplace: Chiba Prefecture, Japan
  • Birthdate: April 9, 1985
  • Height: 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
  • Weight: 65 kg (140 lb/10.2 st)
  • Blood Type: A
  • Family: Mother (Naomi Yamashita), Younger Sister (Rina Yamashita), and pet dog Hime-chan (Princess) and P-chan

[edit] 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.

[edit] Johnny's Junior

Since joining JE, 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 JE. 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.

[edit] 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 December 31st 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. [1]

On the 7th of April, 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 threw at him, which hit him on the head. Yamashita has stated that it is not such a big deal, and that he is okay.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Drama

  • 1998.03 Shinrei Safaa no Shi (Child)
  • 1998.12 Shounentachi (Kakuda Shinya)
  • 1999.02 Nekketsu Renaidou (Bloodtype O Boy, Episode 7)
  • 1999.05 P.P.O.I (Amano Taira)
  • 1999.07 Kowai Nichiyoubi (Episode 5)
  • 1999.09 Kowai Nichiyoubi 2 (Episode 13)
  • 1999.12 Kiken na Kankei (Miyabe Satoshi, Episode 10, Final Episode)
  • 2000.04 Ikebukuro West Gate Park (Mizuno Shun)
  • 2000.12 Shijou Saiaku no Deeto (Okamura Yuuki, Episode 1)
  • 2000.12 All Star Chuushingura Matsuri (Asano Takumi)
  • 2001.01 Kabachitare! (Tamura Yuta)
  • 2001.04 Shounen wa Tori ni Natta (Nagashima Ken)
  • 2002.01 Long Love Letter (Otomo Tadashi)
  • 2002.07 Lunch no Joou (Nabeshima Koushirou)
  • 2003.04 Crazy Virgin Road (Hajime)
  • 2003.07 Stand UP!! (Iwasaki Kengo)
  • 2003.10 Budou no Ki (Shindou Yousuke)
  • 2004.01 Sore wa, Totsuzen, Arashi no you ni... (Fukasawa Takuma)
  • 2005.07 Dragon Zakura (Yajima Yuusuke)
  • 2005.10 Nobuta wo Produce (Kusano Akira)
  • 2006.04 Kurosagi (Kurosaki)
  • 2007.01 Byakkotai (Sakai Mineji and Sakai Shintaro)
  • 2007.04 Proposal Daisakusen (Iwase Ken)
  • 2008.03 Proposal Daisakusen SP (Iwase Ken)
  • 2008.07 Code Blue (Aizawa Kousaku)

[edit] Film

[edit] Discography

For NEWS, Shuuji to Akira and Kitty GYM-related releases, see NEWS' Discography, Shuuji to Akira's Single and Kitty GYM

[edit] Singles

  • 2006.05.31 Daite Senorita

[edit] Variety Shows

  • 1998.09 Love Juniors, 8 Jida J
  • 1998.11 Boys Be...Jr (Episode 8)
  • 1999.04 Seven Samurai, J Family Betrayal
  • 1999.12 Yattaru J
  • 2000.04 Children Rose Empire 2000, The Shonen Club (still running), Music-Enta, Gakibara
  • 2001.04 Uso!Japan
  • 2003.10 NEWS Best 10
  • 2007.?? Music Fighter

[edit] References

  1. ^ 山ピー明大留年９月卒業目指す (Japanese). Retrieved on 2008-03-15.

[edit] External links

Official sites