Yuri Chinen

Yuri Chinen (知念 侑李, Chinen Yūri, born November 30, 1993), is a Japanese actor, talent, and singer as well as member of Hey! Say! JUMP. He is under the management of Johnny & Associates.

Life

Chinen is the son of Takashi Chinen (born 1967), a Japanese former gymnast who won a bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics.^[1] He is named after Yuri Osawa, an announcer, whose name his mother liked, but is written with different characters; the yu is a character often used in girl’s names (侑 yū) and the ri is taken from Li (李), a surname his mother thought common among Chinese gold medalist gymnasts.^[2]

Career

On June 2, 2003, Yuri entered Johnny & Associates as a trainee. Daiki Arioka, who would later debut as a member of the same group, was also there during that time. On April 3, 2007, he began activities with Hey! Say! 7 starting with a public performance at a KAT-TUN concert.

On September 21, 2007, he began performing as a member of Hey! Say! JUMP.

He was in a 2008 drama, One-Pound Gospel, as "Yoshihiko" in Episode 3, with Hey! Say! JUMP member Ryosuke Yamada and their senior, Kazuya Kamenashi (KAT-TUN). In the same year, he played in the drama Sensei wa erai! as Umeno Wataru, along with other Hey! Say! JUMP members: Yuto Nakajima, Ryosuke Yamada and Daiki Arioka. In October 2008, he was in the drama called Scrap Teacher: Kyoshi Saisei as Yoshida Eitaro, along with other Hey! Say! JUMP members that played with him in Sensei wa erai!.

As a supporter of the Japanese volleyball team for the FIVB World Grand Prix 2009, he performed in June 2009 with Ryosuke Yamada and Nakayama Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow, which is composed of Kento Nakajima, Kikuchi Fuma, Hokuto Matsumura and Yugo Kochi as members of the temporary group NYC Boys. The "C" of NYC boys comes from the initials of his family name "Chinen".^[3]

On March 2, 2010, a press release made by Johnny and Associates revealed that Chinen and Yamada would become members of a second Johnny's unit, NYC. They are currently working as a member of both Hey! Say! JUMP and NYC, which is a rarity in their talent agency. Ryo Nishikido (and formerly Uchi Hiroki) is the only such case of a Johnny's talent officially debuting in two groups (Kanjani8 and NEWS), and as NYC became an officially debuted Johnny's unit, Yamada and Chinen joined them in this unusual situation.

In January 2012, Chinen co-starred with his sempai Yamashita Tomohisa in a drama called Saiko no Jinsei no Owarikata~Ending Planner, where he played Yamashita's younger brother. Chinen's character in the drama was a university student who was so focused on helping out a friend to the point of stealing money from his family's business. Maeda Atsuko and Eikura Nana joined the cast.

In June 2012, It was announced that Chinen will have his first lead-role drama series based on the manga Sprout, by Atsuko Nanba, on July 7 on NTV. He will be with Aoi Morikawa, A.B.C-Z's Ryosuke Hashimoto, Mayuko Kawakita, Fujiiko Kojima, Johnny's Jr.'s Jesse Lewis and Juri Tanaka. Chinen also said, “I’m more nervous than usual, but I want to enjoy playing my role. I will do my best to make people’s hearts throb.”

In April 2013, Chinen won the 2012 Drama of the Year award under the category Best New Comer (actor) for his role in Saiko no Jinsei no Owarikata~Ending Planner and Sprout.

Appearances

• Merengue no Kimochi (with Ryosuke Yamada, NTV, October 11, 2008)
• Vainilla (with Ryosuke Yamada, August 15, 2009)
• VS Arashi (with Ryosuke Yamada, Fuji TV, August 15, 2009)
• Dasshutsu Game Dero! (with Ryosuke Yamada, December 8, 2010)

For Hey! Say! 7 or Hey! Say! JUMP-related appearances, see Hey! Say! JUMP.

TV dramas

• Yukan Club (NTV, 2007) as Ryota (Episode 2)
• 1 Pound no Fukuin (NTV, 2008) as Yoshihiko (Episode 3)
• Sensei wa Erai! (NTV, 2008) as Umeno Wataru
• Scrap Teacher: Kyoushi Saisei (NTV, 2008) as Yoshida Eitaro^[4]
• Saikō no Jinsei no Owarikata: Ending Planner (TBS, 2012) as Hayato Ihara
• Sprout (NTV, 2012) as Narahashi Souhei
• Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyoya e Yokoso (Fuji TV, 2013) as Shunta Sawazaki

Variety shows

• Shōnen Club
• Hyakushiki
• School Kakumei! (April 2009 – present, NTV)
• Yan Yan JUMP

Movies

• Nanako to Nanao (NHK, 2004) as Nanao
• Nin x Nin: The Ninja Star Hattori (Toho, August 28, 2004) as Kenichi Mitsuba
• Sword of the Stranger (opened September 29, 2007) as Kotaro (voice)
• The Smurfs (September 9, 2011) as Brainy (voice)

Stage

• Playzone 2007: Change 2 Chance (performed with Shonentai, 2007) as Ken
• Johnny's World 2012

Concerts

• Johnny's Jr. Hey Say 07 in Yokohama Arena (September 23, 24, 2007)
• Hey! Say! Jump Tokyo Dome Debut Concert (December 22, 2007)
• Summary (Summer 2008)
• Hey! Say! Jump-ing Tour (08-09)
• Hey! Say! Jump Tengoku Concert (summer 2009)
• Hey! Say! Jump Winter Tour (09-10)
• Hey! Say! Jump 2010 Ten Jump Concert (April and May 2010)
• Summary (Summer 2010)
• Summary 2011
• JUMP 2013 (currently ongoing)

Solos

• On The Wind
• Kawaii Kimi no Koto da Mono
• Ookiku nare boku
• Love Parade (originally Arashi's song)

Duets

• "Wish" with Akasaka Akira (Hikaru Genji) in Playzone 2007
• "Stars In Heaven" with Ryosuke Yamada (the song is also known as "Future Earth" or "Mirai no Chikyu ni Mukatte")
• "You & You" with Yuto Nakajima

Songs Written

• "Smile Song" - with Ryutaro Morimoto playing the tambourine and Hey! Say! JUMP singing
• "Ookiku nare boku"

References

External links

• Johnny's Net
• Hey! Say! JUMP official website