Maki Horikita

Maki Horikita is a former Japanese actress who worked in the entertainment industry from 2003 until 2017. Born on October 6, 1988, in Kiyose, Tokyo, Japan, she is the eldest of three daughters. During her youth, she engaged in sports such as basketball and baseball, serving as the vice-captain of her junior high basketball club. In her childhood, she frequently admired and imitated her mother, a detail she later discussed during an appearance on the variety show Cartoon KAT-TUN.

Horikita began her professional acting career in 2003, appearing in several television drama series and feature films. She achieved breakthrough performances through her roles in the television productions Densha Otoko and Nobuta wo Produce. Her performance in Nobuta wo Produce earned her a Best Supporting Actress award from Japan's Television Academy Awards. Around the same time, she received the Newcomer Award from the Japan Academy Awards for portraying a student apprentice in the film Always: Sunset on Third Street.

Following her early success, Horikita earned a second Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Kurosagi. She subsequently secured lead roles in the television drama Teppan Shoujo Akane!! and played a central character in Seito Shokun! alongside Rina Uchiyama. She also featured in the horror movie One Missed Call: Final alongside Meisa Kuroki and Jang Keun-suk. Her performance as Mizuki Ashiya in the drama adaptation Hanazakari no Kimitachi e earned her first Best Actress award. In the same year, she appeared in the Taiga drama Atsuhime, starred in the suspense film Tokyo Shōnen, and reprised her role in Always: Zoku Sanchome no Yuhi. Vogue Nippon recognized her work by naming her one of eleven Women of the Year in 2007.

In subsequent years, Horikita continued to lead major television and film productions. She starred in Fuji TV's drama Innocent Love opposite Yujin Kitagawa and played the female protagonist Naomi in the film Dareka ga Watashi ni Kiss wo Shite, directed by Hans Canosa. She later starred in the 2009 drama Atashinchi no Danshi and the 2010 series Tokujo Kabachi!! alongside Sho Sakurai. In 2011, she appeared in Wowow Films' movie adaptation Into the White Night, which screened in the Panorama category at the Berlin Film Festival.

Horikita achieved further milestone success in 2012 when she played the titular role in the NHK morning drama Doctor Ume. The production achieved an average audience rating of 20.7%, marking the first time in nine years that an asadora time slot passed a 20% average rating. Later that year, she made her stage debut in a performance of Joan of Arc. She went on to accept lead roles in the evening dramas Miss Pilot and Masshiro, as well as the 2013 film Mugiko-san to.

In addition to screen acting, Horikita established a prominent presence in media endorsements, radio, and voice acting. She appeared in advertising campaigns for brands including Fujifilm, Lotte, Suntory, and NTT DoCoMo, and was recognized by Nihon Monitor as one of Japan's top endorsers in 2008. On radio, she co-hosted the Girls Locks! segment on Tokyo FM until 2009. Her voice acting roles included animated projects such as Nobita and the Green Giant Legend 2008, the Japanese dub of Fly Me to the Moon, and voicing the main character Luke in the Professor Layton series.

Horikita married actor Koji Yamamoto on August 22, 2015, after the pair co-starred in a stage production of Wuthering Heights earlier that year. She gave birth to her first child in December 2016. On February 28, 2017, Horikita officially announced her retirement from the entertainment industry.