Satoshi Ohno

Satoshi Ohno (大野 智) is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, radio host, artist, dancer, and choreographer.

He is the lead vocalist and leader of the boy band Arashi, hence his nickname Leader (リーダー).

Ohno began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates in 1994 at the age of 13.

An invitation to audition was sent back to Ohno, and he subsequently became a trainee in October 1994.

He started an acting career in 1997 when he was cast to be part of the stage play Kyo to Kyo.

To focus on the stage play Kyo to Kyo, which ran from 1997 to 1998 during his trainee days, he withdrew from high school and moved to Kyoto.

Before his music debut with Arashi, Ohno wanted to resign from Johnny & Associates.

However, then-president Johnny Kitagawa asked him to help out with a song recording and to pack up for a trip to Hawaii, which turned out to be the place where the press conference announcing the formation of Arashi was held.

In 1997, Ohno was a cast member of Kyo to Kyo with Musical Academy (MA) leader Shingo Machida and continued to act in other stage productions such as Koichi Dōmoto's Mask and Shōnentai's Playzone after Kyo to Kyo was over.

Since then, he has done a number of stage plays such as True West with Masahiro Matsuoka and West Side Story with bandmates Sho Sakurai and Jun Matsumoto.

With Ohno at the age of 18 at the time, Arashi was officially formed on September 15, 1999 and made their CD debut on November 3, 1999.

Since much of his trainee days were spent in Kyoto, he was the least known member during Arashi's early days.

Ohno is the lead vocalist of Arashi.

Although his music career is primarily with Arashi, he had a solo concert called 3104 (which can be read as his name Satoshi in Japanese) in 2006 and in 2009, became the first and only member in Arashi to release a solo single.

It was a soundtrack for his drama Uta no Onii-san titled "Kumorinochi, Kaisei" (曇りのち、快晴) by Yano Kenta starring Satoshi Ohno.

In 1999, Ohno made his TV drama debut in the volleyball-centered short drama V no Arashi (Vの嵐), which was Arashi's first drama together.

The Pū (プーシリーズ) series that Ohno starred in spanned from 2003 to 2008, consisting of Sengokupū (センゴクプー), Bakumatsu Banpū (バクマツバンプー), Tensei Kunpū (テンセイクンプー), and Amatsukaze (アマツカゼ).

In Tensei Kunpū, Ohno portrayed a man named Kaoru Kazamine who was accidentally sent back to the Edo period of Japan through a system malfunction.

Ohno began his work as a choreographer in 2004 for his solo "Top Secret" during Arashi's 2004 Iza, Now Tour and in 2006, began to work as a choreographer for the group.

Since then, he has choreographed numerous solo and group dances.

Some of his notable choreography work for Arashi includes "Zero-G", the live performance for "Bittersweet", the interlude for the "Kokoro no Sora" music video, "Tsunagu", and "Do You...?".

In 2008, Ohno became the first and the only artist from Johnny's to hold his own art exhibition, titled "Freestyle", and also received his first starring role in a Japanese television drama, Maō, for which he earned a handful of Best Actor awards.

Since then, he has continued to star in numerous dramas and movies, receiving a number of awards and nominations for his roles.

In 2008, Ohno was given his first starring role in the suspense drama Maō.

He co-starred with Toma Ikuta and portrayed a two-faced lawyer who sought for revenge against the person who murdered his brother years ago.

In 2009, he starred in his first comedy drama Uta no Oniisan (歌のおにいさん).

With Kanjani Eight member Ryuhei Maruyama as his co-star, Ohno played a musician who unexpectedly becomes a singing character for a children's program after being dumped by his girlfriend, kicked out of his band, and labelled useless by his family.

Ohno also took part in a television mini-drama project titled 0 Gōshitsu no Kyaku (0号室の客), which aired from October 2009 to April 2010 and starred a select number of different artists from Johnny's. Ohno was the lead actor in the first story of the project called "Akogare no Otoko" (憧れの男), which ran for four episodes in total.

The story was about a salaryman and a club hostess visiting a strange "Room 0" that can reveal anyone's "grade" as a human being.

Ohno also provided the vocals to the insert song "Yukai Tsukai Kaibutsu-kun" (ユカイツーカイ怪物くん), which was released as a single on July 7, 2010 for the drama Kaibutsu-kun and sold around 59,000 copies on the first day.

In January 2010, Ohno co-starred with the other members of Arashi in the human suspense drama special Saigo no Yakusoku (最後の約束).

Ohno portrayed Satoru Mashiko, a 28-year-old employee of a cleaning company who is caught up in a building hijack.

Beginning in April 2010, Ohno starred in the live-action adaptation of the manga and anime Kaibutsu-kun.

Ohno played Tarou Kaibutsu, the prince of Kaibutsu Land who is ordered by the king to go to the world of humans for training as he is deemed unfit for the succession of the throne.

He then reprised his role of Kaibutsu-kun for the Kaibutsu-kun special which aired on June 26, 2010.

Ohno also starred in the second story, Hajime no Ippo (はじめの一歩), of the Fall 2010 Yonimo Kimyōna Monogatari (世にも奇妙な物語) special that aired on October 4, 2010.

For his work as an artist, a singer, and an actor in Kaibutsu-kun the Movie, Ohno became one of the recipients of GQ Japan's Men of the Year Award in 2011.

Ohno was born in Mitaka, Tokyo as the youngest child of his family.

He has one older sister.

During middle school, his mother sent in his application to Johnny & Associates without his knowledge.