Yu Shirota

Yu Shirota (城田 優) is a Japanese actor and singer, most known for his role as Kagurazaka Makoto in the Japanese television drama live action adaption of Hana-Kimi, Kunimitsu Tezuka in the Prince of Tennis Musicals, Tuxedo Mask in the Sailor Moon Musicals and as Kei Shinjo in Rookies.

The first being Arakure KNIGHT, the live-action movie adaptation of the 1982 to 1988 manga series, Aratanaru Shobaku by Satosi Yoshida.

Shirota was born on December 26, 1985, to a Spanish mother, Pepi (née Fernandez) and a Japanese father, Shirota Mitsuo (城田光男).

Shirota lived in Barcelona, Spain from when he was three to about seven years old.

He returned to Japan for elementary school and can still speak Spanish in ordinary conversation.

He attended high school at Horikoshi High along with NEWS member Tomohisa Yamashita, WaT's Teppei Koike, Japanese actor Toma Ikuta and KAT-TUN's Jin Akanishi and Koki Tanaka.

According to Shirota, when he was little, his family liked to sing songs, so he would borrow his older sister's keyboard, while his mother taught him piano.

Thus spawned Shirota's love for composing.

He composed his first piece when he was in the fourth grade, titled "The Tear".

Yu Shirota's acting career began from 2003 to 2004, when Shirota became the 7th actor to play Tuxedo Kamen (Tuxedo Mask) in the Sailor Moon Musicals.

His first official performance as Tuxedo Kamen was on January 2, 2003, in the 2003 Winter Special Mugen Gakuen – Mistress Labyrinth (Kaiteiban).

He also demonstrated his ability to play acoustic guitar on stage live, during the Starlights – Ryuusei Densetsu performances.

The 2004 New Legend of Kaguya Island was Shirota's last performance as Tuxedo Kamen.

That night, on September 5, 2004, after he performed his final rendition of "Prince of Earth", he announced his graduation from the role and received flowers from Kousei Amano who had previously played Tuxedo Kamen in the original 1999 Kaguya Island musical.

He also began working for a year on the Japanese program, Hanamaru Cafe, as part of the Hanamaru apron team, often leaving set for locations and displaying prizes for viewers during game corners.

During this time, Shirota won the role of Kunimitsu Tezuka, the stoic captain of Seigaku Middle School's tennis club, in the Prince of Tennis musicals series, Tenimyu.

From 2005 to 2006, he became the third actor to play Tezuka as a member of the second-generation Seigaku cast.

He made his debut as Tezuka on January 8, 2005, in the Side Yamabuki performance in Osaka.

That same year, his role as Tezuka was carried into the live adaptation film of the manga and marked his first major film appearance.

He also released a Best Actor's album in 2005, for his role as Tezuka.

On March 29, 2006, in the Dream Live 3rd Live concert, he along with the majority of the second generation Seigaku cast, graduated from their roles.

Through 2006, Shirota began appearing in a couple dramas and movies including the 2005 Watanabe net drama, Hice Cool, the TV drama special, The Hit Parade, portraying the real-life Mickey Curtis and the June Bride movie in which he played the title character, Natsumi, based on the original manga Jyun Bride by Satoshi Yoshida, resulted in a made for DVD release sequel, Zoku June Bride.

In 2007, after nearly a year away from musicals, Shirota returned to stage and starred as Anthony Hope, the cheerful young sailor, in the Japanese stage production of Sweeney Todd.

The musical opened on January 5, 2007 and ran through January 29, 2007, at the Nissay Theatre with additional performances during February in Osaka.

Shirota then began appearing in a string of dramas, the first being the TV drama, Dignity of Haken, featured Shirota as the half-Spanish Ryuto Amaya, premiered on January 10, 2007, on NTV and ended its run on March 21, 2007.

Shirota next appeared in his second TV drama appearance, in the April 2007 drama, Seito Shokun!, which is an adaptation of the manga series, Seito Shokun.

He played Ken Mizuhara, a physical education teacher.

In his third TV drama role of the year, Shirota appeared in the popular adaptation of Hanazakari No Kimitachi e, which began on July 3, 2007, playing the character of Kagurazaka Makoto, a high-jumping rival to Sano Izumi.

Shirota also appeared in a string of films in 2007.

The film opened in limited release, premiering at Cinema GAGA on April 28, 2007.

The second of his three films, Shirota played a main supporting actor in the film adaptation of Gettsu Itaya's semi-autobiographical novel, Waruboro and was released on September 8, 2007, as principal filmography began on September 20, 2006.

Before October 2006, Shirota finished filming for his third movie, Heat Island, which was released on October 20, 2007, and is based on the book of the same title written by Kakine Ryuosuke.

Shirota played Aki, a street gangster who moves around Shibuya (a district in Tokyo) causing trouble and accidentally obtains a large sum of money that belongs to a crime group; however, the money once belonged to an illegal casino operated by the Yakuza and both groups are after the money.

After Shirota's run as Charles Lindbergh in the 2007 year-end Japanese production of the Take Flight musical, Shirota starred in the January 2008 TV drama, Koshonin – The Negotiator, portraying Mariya Kyousuke, a condemned criminal.

Next, Shirota starred in Rookies, the successful baseball drama based on the manga of the same name by Morita Masanori, playing Kei Shinjo.

The series first aired on April 19, 2008, and ended July 26, 2008.

after 11 episodes.

He would reprise his role as Kagurazaka Makoto in the 2008 Hana Kimi special episode.

In 2009, he was named one of the most promising actors and actresses, placing 8th in a poll conducted by Oricon.

He is a former member of the Watanabe Entertainment group, D-BOYS.