Yu Shirota

Yu Shirota's a Japanese actor & singer. He's most known for his role as Kunimitsu Tezuka in The Prince of Tennis movie & Tenimyu musicals as well as for his role as Tuxedo Kamen in the Sailor Moon Musicals. He's also part of a young men's stage acting troupe, D-Boys, which perform in various skit-like performances. He was born on December 26, 1985 to a Japanese father & Spanish mother. As such, he lived in Barcelona until he was about 2. He returned to Japan for elementary school & could still speak Spanish in ordinary conversation. 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. This spawned Shirota's love for composing. He composed his first piece when he was in the4th grade, titled the "The Tear". On November 16, 2005, he released an Idol DVD called With U. He has appeared in various numbers of commercials, commercial videos, TV shows, musicals, movies & MISIA's "In My Soul" music video. He has also appeared in a series of commercial videos for the games Shadow Hearts From the New World and Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side. He starred in the Watanabe net drama, Hice Cool (2005), appearing alongside fellow D-Boy members, Kotaro Yanagi, Yuya Endo & Osamu Adachi. He's part of the Watanabe Entertainment group named D-BOYS & 1 of the original members. As a member, he also keeps a blog, which he updates occasionally & includes a personal video greeting. Being a member has provided him w/ lots of opportunities. Among them was performing w/ the group & expanding his experience as a performer. The D-Boys so far have released 2 photobooks. The 1st photo-book, titled D-Boys, was released on April 27, 2005, while the 2nd, called Start, was released on March 15, 2006. He has hosted a radio show called "Marvelous Radio Vibration" w/ fellow D-Boys member, Kotaro Yanagi. The show ended on April 1, 2006. From 2003-2004, he became the 7th actor to play Tuxedo Kamen (Tuxedo Mask) in the Sailor Moon Musicals. Afterwards, he won the role of Kunimitsu Tezuka, the stoic captain of Seigaku Middle School's tennis club. From 2005-2006, he became the 3rd actor to play Tezuka in The Prince of Tennis Musicals. His role as Tezuka was carried into the live adaptation film of the manga. On March 29, 2006, he & most of the Seigaku cast graduated from their roles in the Dream Live 3rd live concert. He was able to continue playing Kunimitsu Tezuka from the musicals in the live-adaptation film of the anime/manga series, The Prince of Tennis (2001). He & most of the principle cast members for the Seigaku boys reprised their roles. His next movie, the June Bride was released on May 27, 2006. He played the title character Natsumi. The movie also co-stars fellow D-Boy members, Hiroki Suzuki and Hirofumi Araki.