Maki Horikita

Born Marina Hara on the sixth of October 1988 in Kiyose, Tokyo, Japan, Horikita is the eldest of three girls. She was boyish during most of her childhood. For instance, during middle school, she enjoyed playing basketball and baseball with her friends; she also preferred playing Dragon Ball Z with the boys than playing dolls with the girls.

Despite her boyishness, Horikita looked up to her mother. This was revealed when she appeared on KAT-TUN's variety show, Cartoon KAT-TUN, where she mentioned that she loved imitating her mother when she was younger.

Her first boyfriend is Dahn Suan. Hi...

In junior high school, Horikita served as the vice-president of her school's student council and the vice-captain of the basketball club. In class, she was dubbed as the “Boss of 3-C” in recognition of her status as the class representative. As she became more active in the entertainment industry, she had to put her club and council activities on hold. Being unable to meet her many commitments, she finally withdrew from her school activities, concentrating solely on completing her high school education and her budding career in show business.^[1]

Apart from modeling for photobooks, Horikita started as a print and television endorser in 2003. Her well-known television commercials were her advertisements for Fujifilm (where she appeared alongside Japanese idol Tomoya Nagase) and Lotte. In 2008, she was chosen as Honda Cars Japan's endorser of STEP WGN.

She is also a staple image endorser for Suntory and NTT DoCoMo. In 2008, Nihon Monitor recognized Horikita as one of Japan's top endorsers during its annual Most Popular Personality in TV CMs.^[2].

Horikita had appeared in several drama series and movies since 2003, but it was her roles in Densha Otoko and Nobuta wo Produce that opened more doors of opportunity for her. Her promising portrayal of the titular character in Nobuta wo Produce bagged her a Best Supporting Actress award from a Japanese award-giving body. The role propelled her into popularity.

She bagged her second Best Supporting Actress award in Kurosagi, a drama series which resulted from the successful chemistry between Horikita and her co-star Tomohisa Yamashita in Nobuta wo Produce. A number of producers and scriptwriters have come to recognize her acting skills and soon she was given the lead role for Teppan Shoujo Akane, and the role of a mastermind bully who pulled the strings from behind a class of rebellious students in the drama Seito Shokun!, where she co-starred along her agency senior Rina Uchiyama. She was also cast in the horror movie, One Missed Call: Final, the last installment of the One Missed Call franchise with agency colleague Meisa Kuroki and South Korean actor Jang Geun-suk.

Soon after, Horikita achieved her first Best Actress award for her role as Mizuki Ashiya in the Japanese drama adaptation of the gender-bender manga Hana-Kimi, or Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. During the same year that she filmed for Hana Kimi, Horikita also starred in the Taiga drama Atsuhime with Aoi Miyazaki, a suspense movie where she plays the lead character who has multiple personality disorder entitled Tokyo Shōnen, and the sequel to her breakthrough movie, Always: Sunset on Third Street, Always: Zoku Sanchome no Yuhi. All of her exceptional work paid off when Horikita was chosen by Vogue Nippon as one of its eleven recipients of the prestigious Women of the Year award for 2007^[3]. Other recipients of the same award include Ayase Haruka and Anna Tsuchiya.

October of the following year, she was once again seen on television opposite Yuzu's lead vocalist Yujin Kitagawa, leading the cast of Fuji TV's golden time slot in the drama Innocent Love. ^[4]. Horikita also appeared in the TV Asahi special that was aired in December, Danso no Reijin as Ri Kouran, a famous actress in China and the United States during the 1950s, while the lead role of Yoshiko Kawashima, announced earlier that year, had been taken by Meisa Kuroki ^[5]. Towards the end of the year, She had been cast as Naomi, the female protagonist of Dareka ga Watashi ni Kiss wo Shite (based on Gabrielle Zevin's popular novel, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac) a Hollywood-Japan collaboration film directed by internationally-acclaimed director and self-confessed Japanese culture fanatic, Hans Canosa. (2007).^[6].

Horikita had gone on to star in two other television dramas, Atashinchi no Danshi in 2009 and Tokujo Kabachi!! in 2010 with ARASHI's Sho Sakurai.

Horikita was one of the six young female hosts of the radio show, GIRLS LOCKS!, a sub-portion of the Japanese radio program, SCHOOL OF LOCKS!, broadcast by tfm. She usually calls her listeners in response to their letters and gives them book recommendations. Her stint was at ten in the evening, every third or fourth week of the month. Other hosts of this radio show include Yui Aragaki, Chiaki Kuriyama, Nana Eikura and Kii Kitano.^[7] She graduated from the program on May 2009.

Horikita had also ventured the world of voice acting, debuting as an anime seiyu for one of the characters in Nobita and the Green Giant Legend 2008.^[8] Her most prominent voice acting stint was when she provided the voice for Luke, a character from the video game series, Professor Layton series.^[9]

Early 2009, she had also dubbed a character from the Belgian 3D animated movie Nat's Space Adventure 3D/Fly Me to the Moon. She provided the Japanese voice of the protagonist, a young male fly who was determined to explore the outer space^[10]. She has also voiced over Shawnee Smith's character, Megan "Meg" Penny, in the Japanese dubbed release of The Blob.

• Advanance of Peach (2003)
• Fall in Love on Sunday (2003)
• 68FILMS Tokyo Girls (2004)
• Her Sin (2004)
• Ghost Legend (2005)
• Kogoro VS Kintachi (2005)
• Broken-wings Angels - Chat Room (2006)
• Eru Boboraccha ga Yuku (2006)
• Terrible Room 6 (2006)
• Densha Otoko DELUXE (2006)
• Teru Toko Temasyo! (2007)
• Love Stories - Strong Woman (2007)
• Tokyo Ambush (2008)
• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e Special - Graduate & 7½ (2008)
• Pretty Woman Wearing Suits (2008) - Guest
• Chance! ~Her Reason To Win~ (2009)

• Nintendo GBA: Fire Emblem (2003)
• Nissinbo: Cotton Feel (2004)
• Fujifilm: Fujicolor (2004)
• Try@HOME: (2005)
• Lotte: Airs (2005)
• Suntory: Nacchan (2005)
• Lotte: Ghana (2006)
• Lotte: Ice Yogurt (2007)
• Shiseido: Seabreeze Deo & Water (2007)
• Lotte: Shasha (2007)
• KONAKA: KONAKA (2007)
• Suntory: White Nacchan (2008)
• Sound Shower Wedding Fashion Show (2008)
• Lotte: Gyugyutto (2008)
• NTT Docomo: A.042 (2008)
• Fujifilm: 10000 (2008)
• Suntory: Orange Nacchan (2008)
• Honda: STEP WGN (2008)
• Shiseido: Tsubaki (2009)

• Bump of Chicken: Namida no Furusato PV
• Remioromen: Sangatsu Kokonoka PV (2005)
• Janne Da Arc: Furimukeba PV (2006)
• Going Under Ground: Hatsu Koi (2008)

• Shinkaron
• Bijomegane 2
• Hikokigumo
• NS Eyes
• Koisuru Nichiyoubi: Watashi, Koishita
• Castella
• Missmatch
• Cinematic
• Shinkansen & Love
• S

• Layton Kyoju Series (Voice of Luke)

• 47th Television Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (Nobuta Wo Produce)
• 49th Television Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (Kurosagi)
• 29th Japan Academy Awards: Best Newcomer (Always: Sunset on Third Street)
• MTV Student Voice Awards 2006: Best Teen Actress
• 54th Television Academy Awards: Best Actress (Hanazakari no Kimitachi E)
• Vogue Nippon - Women of the Year 2007: One of the eleven recipients
• TV Life: Best Actress (Hanazakari no Kimitachi E)

• List of Japanese idols

• Horikita Collection—Official site Template:Ja icon
• Maki Horikita at IMDb
• Maki Horikita at Nippon Cinema

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