Tomohisa Yamashita

, also widely known as , 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. 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.