Real Name: Tomohisa Aoki yamashita — changed when father left family ("Manatsu" is made up by Chinese fans)
Nickname: YamaPi, YamaP, Pi, Tomo-chan
Birthplace: Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Height: 174cm (5'8")
Weight: 54–60kg (118–132lbs)
Blood Type: A
Family: Mother, Younger Sister and pet dog Princess
Favorite Phrase: Maji de? (Really?)
Favorite band: Southern All Stars, Mr.Children, GLAY
Personal history
He entered Johnny's Entertainment (JE) and became a member of Johnny’s Juniors when he was 11 years old.
He is affectionately called Yamapi (short for Yamashita and pink) by his friends, which is a nickname given to him by Hideaki Takizawa (Tackey & Tsubasa). His closest friends call him Pi, which was first used by Jin Akanishi (KAT-TUN).
Since joining JE, he has been a member of Jr. groups B.I.G., Four Tops, and most recently NewS. Yamashita began to appear in television dramas soon after he joined JE. In 2000, at age 15, his performance in Ikebukuro West Gate Park earned him an award for "Best Supporting Actor". That same year, he was voted first place in the Annual Junior Awards for "Best Boyfriend", "Most Beautiful", etc. for the first time.
When Takizawa made his debut with Tsubasa Imai as Tackey & Tsubasa in 2002, he left as the leader of Johnny's Juniors. Around the same time, Yamashita and fellow Juniors Toma Ikuta, Hasegawa Jun , and Shunsuke Kazama formed Four Tops. Four Tops then began to host the Junior television program, The Shōnen Club (Boy's Club).
In September 2003, nine people from Johnny’s Juniors were chosen to form the group NewS with Yamashita as the leader. NewS's formation came as a shock to not only the fans of Four Tops but its own members as well. Yamashita later revealed that at the time, aside from Ryo Nishikido, he had barely talked to any of the other group members.
NewS made its formal debut on May 12, 2004. Since its debut, NewS has had four consecutive #1 singles on the Oricon Ranking Chart.
Nobuta wo Produce (Kazuya Kamenashi and Tomohisa Yamashita)In October 2005, Yamashita and Kazuya Kamenashi from KAT-TUN formed the temporary unit, Shuuji x Akira, to promote their television show Nobuta wo Produce. (Shuuji and Akira are the characters they portray in the drama.) They also released a single, Seishun Amigo, under the name Shuuji x Akira, which sold over 1 million copies in 4 weeks. Seishun Amigo is the No.1 best selling single on the Oricon Yearly Single Rankings for 2005.
In spring 2006, Yamashita recorded "Kurosagi: The Black Swindler" クロサギ drama based on the manga of the same name. Kurosagi is basically about the art of swindling. For this purpose, Yamashita recorded his single "Daite Señorita" which was #1 in the Oricon ranking. Kurosagi is now on the top of the Japanese Dramas Ranking as well.
In the latter half of 2006, Yamashita joined a Thai duo called Golf-Mike, who are brothers, to form a temporary unit called Kitty GYM formed by Kitayama Hiromitsu (Kis-my-ft2), Inoo Kei (J.J. Express), Totsuka Shota (A.B.C.), Yaotome Hikaru (Ya-Ya-Yah). The name of the group is "Kitayama Inoo Totsuka Yaotome Golf Yamashita Mike". This unit was made to cheer on the Japan Women's Volleyball team and they released a single in August called "Fever and Future" under the name "GYM" which stands for Golf, Yamashita and Mike, respectively.
Yamashita is returning as NEWS on December 31st 2006 on Johnny's Countdown 2006-2007.
Yamashita, along with KAT-TUN's Koki Tanaka and Kis-my-ft2's Taisuke Fujigaya, has recently finished filming his newest drama, Byakkotai, which airs in January 2007.
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