Meisa Kuroki

Satsuki Shimabukuro (born 28 May 1988), better known by her stage name Meisa Kuroki, is a Japanese actress, model and singer born in Nago, Okinawa, Japan. She is represented by the agency Sweet Power and is signed to Sony Music Japan. She made her acting debut in 2004. She has modeled for the popular Japanese fashion magazine JJ, among others, and is the current Japanese representative for Epson and Giorgio Armani. She has appeared in numerous television dramas, commercials, films, and stage productions. Early life and career Kuroki was born Satsuki Shimabukuro in Okinawa, Japan. While in her second year of junior high school in Okinawa, Kuroki was discovered by a fashion scout and subsequently began modeling, initially modeling exclusively for the popular fashion magazine JJ. While studying at the Okinawa Actors School, from which she graduated in 2007, she was a member of the institution's B.B. Waves group. Acting career Kuroki made her acting debut in February 2004 in the Kita-ku Tsuka Kōhei Gekidan play Atami Satsuj in Jiken: Pyonyang Kara Kita Onna Keiji. Since her debut she has continued to perform in theater, notably in the Azumi stage productions in 2005 and 2006, the musical Endless Shock (2005), and most recently in Onna Nobunaga (2009) and Hiryuden 2010: Last Princess (2010). Kuroki made her television debut in 2004 in the Fuji TV drama, Medaka. She has played supporting roles in several high-rated and critically acclaimed drama series, including Haikei, Chichiue-sama (2007), Kaze no Garden (2008), and Shinzanmono (2010). Kuroki won the Television Drama Academy Award and TV Life Drama Grand Prix for Best Supporting Actress in 2009 for her role in the Fuji TV drama, Ninkyo Helper. In 2006, she starred in Chakushin Ari: Final, the final installment of the Chakushin Ari franchise, for which she earned the Golden Arrow Award for Newcomer of the Year.  Music career Kuroki performed on the soundtrack of the 2007 film Crows Zero, in which she also appeared. On 21 June 2008, her debut song, "Like This", was released through the Sony Music Japan subsidiary label Studioseven Recordings. It soon was announced on 17 February 2009, that Kuroki's first EP, Hellcat, would be released on 8 April 2009. Her second EP, Attitude, was released in January 2010. In January 2011 Kuroki released her first studio album, Magazine, which peaked at number 6 on the Oricon Weekly Albums chart. Personal life On 2 February 2012, she married pop singer and former KAT-TUN member Jin Akanishi. Their first daughter, Theia, was born on 23 September 2012.