Kenjiro Yamashita is one of the most popular and richest Actor who was born on May 24, 1985 in Kyoto, Japan.
Kenjiro Yamashita (山下 健二郎 , Yamashita Kenjirō, born May 24, 1985 in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese dancer, actor and radio personality. He is a performer of J-Pop dance and vocal group Sandaime J Soul Brothers and a former member of Gekidan Exile. As a member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers, he has received the Japan Record Awards twice. He has appeared in a few TV dramas and films, and he held starring roles in the film Pan to Bus to Nidome no Hatsukoi (“Our Blue Moment”) and dramas Fukuyadou Honpo – KYOTO LOVE STORY -, Love or Not, Manga Mitai ni Ikanai, Game Mitai ni Ikanai. He is also the Tuesday host for NTV’s morning information program “ZIP!”. He was the Friday host for the famous Japanese radio program All Night Nippon before he moved to his new radio program Sandaime J Soul Brothers Yamashita Kenjiro’s Zero Base in 2019. Yamashita is famous for having various hobbies. One of his enthusiasms is fishing, for which he has won awards like the Cool Anglers Award 2019. He also became a Youtuber in 2019 to share his hobbies(mainly fishing) with the world.
In 2007, Yamashita got an opportunity to serve as a backup dancer in Exile’s tour Exile Live Tour 2007 ‘Exile Evolution’. He was shocked and impressed after seeing the performance of Exile in close distance, and the seed of dreaming to become an artist just like Exile took root in his heart. He enrolled in EXPG Osaka(a talent school run by Exile’s management company LDH) as soon as it opened and he became an instructor there later. His students included Yuta Nakatsuka，Mio Nakajima, Shūka Fujii, Karen Fujii, Zin, Shogo Iwaya, Masahiro Sunada and Rikiya Okuda. Then he quit his steady job at Universal Studio Japan to focus on his dream, much to the surprise of the management team of USJ since it seems insane to give up such a well-paid job. His resignation was accepted after he showed his determination to try his best to pursue his dream, and he got blessings from his former bosses and colleagues. During his time at EXPG Osaka, he did more backup dancers jobs for Exile and other LDH’s artists. He met Naoto and Naoki, his future Sandaime J Soul Brothers’ groupmate and Nidaime J Soul Brothers’ members at that time, when he served as a backup dancer for Nidaime J Soul Brothers’ shows in Osaka. In 2009, he took part in the audition for Gekidan Exile,the actor group produced by LDH. Though he is one of the finalists，he was not chosen as a formal member of Gekidan Exile. Anyway, he was invited to take lessons in Tokyo together with the winners as a backup candidate. Taking this opportunity, he moves to Tokyo from Osaka.
