Naoki Kobayashi

Naoki Kobayashi (小林 直己) is a Japanese actor, dancer, choreographer, and model.

He is a performer of J-Pop dance and vocal group Exile, and is a leader and performer of J-Pop dance and vocal group Sandaime J Soul Brothers.

Naoki Kobayashi was born on 10 November 1984, in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

His deep love for music started in junior high school, when he was a teenager troubled by existential anxiety and sleeping disorder.

While questioning his role in this world, he found relief in music such as J-pop as he learned from the lyrics that there are various ways of life.

During his high school days, he wanted to become a singer-songwriter and even considered quitting school to pursue a career in music.

He stopped attending school for half a year and considered to continue his education at a music school.

However, his mother persuaded him to go back to high school, suggesting that a singer-songwriter must understand the thoughts and feelings of a normal high school student.

Back being a student, he joined the school's chorus and started to take vocal training lessons.

Naoki started dancing at the age of 17, with the consideration that a musician needs to have a good sense of rhythm.

After graduating from high school, he was enrolled in the Department of Philosophy of Hosei University with relatively good grades, but he quit university as he became determined to focus on dancing.

He started to try out all kinds of genres and went to Avex Artist Academy for training.

In 2005, Naoki met his future groupmate, the then famous underground dancer Naoto, for the first time.

In May 2006, Naoki participated in the dance battle Dance Alive 2006, which was held in celebration of the Japanese release of RIZE, an American documentary film about Clowning and Krumping.

During the tournament, he met Krump dance team Rag Pound.

Their member Akira noticed Naoki and invited him to join Rag Pound after the battle.

Naoki accepted the offer and joined the team in July of the same year while also starting to use the alias Jr.Twiggz as a member.

Since Akira was invited to join Exile in June 2006, Rag Pound's member naturally grew closer to Exile's management company, LDH.

Naoki was also very impressed and inspired by the Exile Vocal Battle Audition 2006 ~ Asian Dream~ and became even more interested in the entertainment produced by Exile.

In October 2006, he took part in LDH's audition for the dance and vocal group Nidaime J Soul Brothers("The Second Generation of J Soul Brothers") but failed.

Shortly afterwards in December 2006, he enrolled in EXPG Studio Tokyo, the talent school run by LDH, and became an instructor at EXPG in March 2007.

In 2007, Naoki was invited to join Nidaime J Soul Brothers as a performer alongside Naoto, after the group's producer Hiro decided that they should be a seven-member group.

Naoki started using NAOKI as his stage name and performed as a member of Nidaime J Soul Brothers for the first time at COLOR LIVE TOUR 2007 BLUE on 10 November 2007.

Meanwhile, in September 2007, Naoki debut as an actor in Gekidan Exile's first play Burnt by the Sun while also choreographing for the play.

On 7 May 2008, Nidaime J Soul Brothers released their first single "WE!", which was sold exclusively on Exile's mobile website.

Meanwhile, Naoki performed in Gekidan Exile's 2nd show CROWN ~Nemuranai, Yoru no Hate ni…~ in May.

From October to November, the group went on a nation-wide small-scale tour, the so-called Musha Shugyo ("Samurai Training"), during which the members traveled on a bus and put on 48 shows in 2 months around the country.

From 29 November to December, Naoki also took part in Exile Live Tour Exile Perfect Live 2008 with his group.

He was also a member of Nidaime J Soul Brothers until their migration to Exile in 2009.

As a member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers, he has received the Japan Record Awards twice, and has received the same award three times as a member of Exile.

On 25 February 2009, Nidaime J Soul Brothers released their first album J Soul Brothers, which landed on the first place of Oricon Albums Chart on the first day of its release.

At the same time, Naoki made his major debut in the music industry.

On 1 March 2009, as all members of Nidaime J Soul Brothers migrated to Exile, Naoki joined Exile.

In July 2010, LDH announced that they wanted to revive J Soul Brothers and formed Sandaime J Soul Brothers ("The Third Generation of J Soul Brothers").

Hiro, the producer of the new J Soul Brothers, appointed Naoki and Naoto, the two youngest members of Exile, as the co-leaders of the new dance and vocal group.

He choreographed the famous "Pocky Dance" (Pocky Sharehappi Dance) for Pocky's advertisement in 2015.

Besides, he has also taken up acting and made his international debut in Netflix's original film Earthquake Bird.

He has also worked as a model for the fashion brand "Yohji Yamamoto".

With his fluent-spoken English and understanding of American culture, he serves as a creative career advisor in the Executive Management Team of LDH USA.

He has a strong interest in traditional Japanese culture, which has motivated him to take part in a few projects focusing on promoting the art of samurai and Japanese swords.