Akanishi Jin

Akanishi Jin

Jin Akanishi (赤西 仁, Akanishi Jin?, born July 4, 1984) is a Japanese idol, singer-songwriter, actor, seiyū, and former radio host. Akanishi is a former member of the J-pop group, KAT-TUN, and was one of the two lead vocalists. Since the group's debut in 2006, it has achieved 14 consecutive number ones (including studio albums) on the Oricon charts.

Akanishi is also a budding actor with roles in the second season of popular NTV school drama, Gokusen 2, Anego and Yukan Club. He is also a co-host of KAT-TUN's own variety show, Cartoon KAT-TUN, and used to host a radio program called "KAT-TUN Style" with bandmate Junnosuke Taguchi from October 2007 to March 2008.


Acting career

Akanishi made his debut as an actor in 1999 in a cameo appearance in the second episode of NTV's romance comedy, P.P.O.I., and also had small roles in TV Asahi's Best Friend, Omae no yukichi ga naiteiru and in NHK series, Haregi, Koko Ichiban. He also started appearing in musicals from 2000 taking on supporting roles in Millennium Shock (2000), Show Geki Shock (2001–2002), Dream Boy (2004) and Dream Boys (2006). Akanishi returned to the small screen in 2005 in the second season of the award-winning and popular NTV school drama, Gokusen, starring opposite Yukie Nakama and bandmate Kazuya Kamenashi. The show won "Best Drama" at the 44th Television Drama Academy Awards and ended its run with an average viewership rating of 27.8%. He also had a supporting role in NTV's romance series, Anego, the same year.

In 2007, Akanishi starred in his first lead role in Yukan Club, a school comedy series, alongside bandmate Junnosuke Taguchi and was voted "Best Actor" at the 11th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix. He made his debut as a voice actor in 2008 for the Japanese dub of Speed Racer, providing the voice for protagonist Speed played by Emile Hirsch.

In 2009, Akanishi was cast as the lead actor in the movie, Bandage, directed by Takeshi Kobayashi and which is scheduled for release on January 16, 2010. This was his big screen debut