Sho Sakurai

Sho Sakurai, born January 25, 1982, is a Japanese singer, actor, news anchor, and presenter affiliated with Starto Entertainment. He is best known as a member of the boy band Arashi, a group he belonged to until it concluded activities on May 31, 2026. Throughout his career, Sakurai has balanced musical performances with television reporting and acting. His father, Shun Sakurai, is a former government official who served as Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Born in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, and raised in Minato, Tokyo, Sakurai is the eldest of three children. In his youth, he engaged in various extracurriculars, including swimming, kendo, calligraphy, and football. His early musical training covered the electric organ, piano, trombone, and trumpet. Although he pursued a talent career from a young age, he continued his education and graduated with a Bachelor of Economics degree from Keio University in March 2004, becoming the first talent from Johnny & Associates to earn a university degree.

Sakurai joined Johnny & Associates in 1995 at age thirteen and debuted with Arashi in 1999. Serving as the group's primary rapper, he frequently wrote rap lyrics under the name Show, helping normalize hip-hop styles among pop idols. In addition to group releases, he staged his first solo concert, The Show, in 2006, released the single "Seaside Bye-Bye" with a movie project group, and authored rap lyrics for other music acts, including KAT-TUN and M-Flo.

Sakurai made his acting debut in the 1999 television drama V no Arashi. He won Best Newcomer at the 5th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix Awards for his role in Tengoku ni Ichiban Chikai Otoko 2 (2001). His first lead drama role came in 2003 with Yoiko no Mikata. Over the years, he has played lead roles in numerous television productions, including The Quiz Show 2, Tokujo Kabachi!!, Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de, and the action series Captured Hospital.

In film, Sakurai debuted in Arashi's ensemble project Pikanchi Life Is Hard Dakedo Happy (2002) and its sequels. He gained broader recognition for his role as Bambi in the Kisarazu Cat's Eye films and landed his first solo starring film role in Honey and Clover (2005). He subsequently starred in the live-action superhero film Yatterman (2009), played a countryside physician in the Kamisama no Karute series, and reprised his television role in the feature film Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de (2013).

In 2006, Sakurai expanded into news broadcasting by joining News Zero as a Monday newscaster. He was selected as the official Olympic coverage anchor for NTV during the 2008 Beijing Games, an achievement that helped earn him a GQ Japan Men of the Year award in 2009. In April 2024, he launched a personal website for professional inquiries and later outlined plans to adapt past entries from his long-running digital blog, Otonoha, into a book.