Tomohisa Yamashita

Tomohisa Yamashita (山下 智久), also widely known as Yamapi (山P), 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).

In 1996, he became a trainee under Johnny & Associates as a part of group Johnny's Junior.

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 made his acting debut in NHK's Shonentachi in 1998.

He gained more attention after appearing in Ikebukuro West Gate Park in 2000.

He made his musical debut as part of idol group NEWS in 2004 and later debuted as a soloist in 2006.

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 launched his acting career after portraying Kusano Akira in the hit drama Nobuta Wo Produce (2005).

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 first major role was in 2006 when he landed the title role in Kurosagi.

He debuted as a singer in a three-member Japanese band called NEWS and as a soloist in 2006.

His biggest break as an actor though came in 2006 when he landed the title role in the television drama Kurosagi.

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.

He graduated with a Commerce degree (major in marketing) in autumn 2008.

He subsequently made his 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He 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.

As early as 2019, he signed a brokerage contract with Westbrook Entertainment, a brokerage company opened by Will Smith, to reach global audiences.