Yuya Yagira (柳楽 優弥, Yagira Yūya, born March 26, 1990) is a Japanese actor. In 2004, he became the youngest winner of the Best Actor award[1] in the history of the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of 12-year-old Akira in the highly acclaimed Nobody Knows.[2]
Career
Yagira was 12 years old and not a professional actor, when filming began for Nobody Knows in 2002.[3] He then immediately went on to television projects and other films. He co-starred with Eriko Sato in Akane Yamada's All to the Sea which was released in 2010[4] and co-starred with Kie Kitano in Taro Hyugaji's Under the Nagasaki Sky, released in 2013.[5]
Yagira was hospitalized on August 29, 2008 for a drug overdose, with early reports calling it a suicide attempt.[6][7] Yagira later denied that he had been trying to kill himself, noting that he was the one who called an ambulance after he began feeling ill from taking the pills. According to his blog:
"The incident followed an argument with my family. In a fit of anger I took a larger than usual dosage of my prescription tranquilizers. As a result I felt ill and asked for an ambulance to be called."[6]
— Japan Zone 1 September 2008
Marriage
In December 2, 2009, Yagira announced on his blog that he was engaged to television personality Ellie Toyota [ja].[8] On January 15, 2010, Yagira and Toyota held their wedding ceremony at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine. They had registered their marriage on January 14.[9] They have one daughter together, born October 13, 2010.[10]
The two met when Toyota was a senior at Horikoshi High School, and Yagira, who was instantly smitten after meeting her, asked a classmate for her contact information, which is how the two began dating.[11] Yagira also revealed that he had proposed to her when he was seventeen,[12] as he was unaware that people could not legally marry until they were eighteen, so he was told, "You can't marry until you're 18.".[12] Yagira later proposed again two years later when he was nineteen, to which this time Toyota accepted.[13]
Brand endorsements
In 2018, Yagira became the brand ambassador for Japanese men's grooming brand GATSBY.[14] He starred in the TV Commercial "GATSBY Cop", together with popular Japanese actor Mackenyu Arata.
Filmography
Television
Kunimitsu no Matsuri (KTV, 2003), Shinsaku Sakagami
Denchi ga Kireru Made (TV Asahi, 2004), Daichi Takano
Tokyo23: Survival City (Wowow, 2010), Noboru Arai[15]
^"柳楽優弥＆豊田エリー、ブログで揃って婚約発表" [Yuya Yagira & Ellie Toyota announce their engagement together on their blogs]. ORICON NEWS. 2018-02-17. Archived from the original on 2024-04-17. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
^"柳楽優弥、妻・豊田エリーへ最初のプロポーズに「まさかつまずくとは…」 夫婦生活にクレームも？ - モデルプレス" [Yuya Yagira on his first proposal to wife Ellie Toyota: "I never thought it would end in a stumble..." Are there complaints about their married life?]. Modelpress (in Japanese). 2016-05-27. Archived from the original on 2023-06-14. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
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