Takashi Sorimachi (反町 隆史, Sorimachi Takashi, born December 19, 1973) is a Japanese actor and singer. He is mostly famous for having portrayed Eikichi Onizuka in the 1998 live-action drama adaptation of the popular manga series Great Teacher Onizuka, and the assassin O in Hong Kong action thriller film Fulltime Killer.
Career
Sorimachi was a member of Johnny & Associates's trainee group Heike-ha [ja] when he was in the third year of junior high school, under his real name, Takashi Noguchi, as backdancer of group Hikaru Genji, together with members of the agency's current groups Tokio (Shigeru Jojima, Tatsuya Yamaguchi, and Taichi Kokubun) and 20th Century (Masayuki Sakamoto), among others, but decided to leave both the group and the agency within the year, to pursue a career as a model and actor.[2][3][4]
By 1994, Sorimachi was invited to participate at the Paris Fashion Week catwalk.[4] He debuted as an actor that year with the drama "Maido Gomen Nasai", under his stage name.[2]
With his acting in "Beach Boys", released in 1997, Sorimachi was calling the attention as a first-line actor. With that drama, he also debuted as a singer, releasing his first single "FOREVER", receiving the award of Newcomer of the Year at the 12th Japan Gold Disc Awards.[4][5]
Another big attention grabber was 1998's Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), which not only provided Sorimachi with the iconic role of rebel teacher Eikichi Onizuka, but also another chance to sing, releasing the theme song "Poison", a song that has a mysterious way to soothe crying babies up to age 2 all around the world. This was a sensation on the net after fans learned of the phenomenon from Sorimachi himself, when he was interviewed by his agency Ken-On's YouTube channel in 2021. "I'm happy to think that my work continues to help others. My friends tell me that they listened to this song with their babies and it stopped them from crying. I'm very happy.", he said, amused.[6]
In 2005 he starred in the movie Otoko-tachi no Yamato as Sergeant Moriwaki, the leader of the soup kitchen on the battleship Yamato.[7]
In November 2023, Takashi Sorimachi co-starred along with his wife Nanako Matsushima in a commercial for skincare and makeup label Shiseido.[8][9] The new Shiseido commercial marked the couple's first screen shared in 25 years following their appearance in GTO, and the first time the couple co-starred together following their marriage in 2001.[9][8] The couple also appeared together for the first time in over two decades in GTO Revival, a 2024 special episode revival of 1998's TV Series.[10][11]
Personal life
On February 21, 2001, he married actress Nanako Matsushima, who he co-starred with in GTO.[12]
On May 31, 2004, his wife gave birth to a baby girl. The couple had a second daughter on November 30, 2007.[12]
^"Takashi Sorimachi Profile". Star East Asia Male Celebrities. Archived from the original on March 27, 2010. Birth name: Takashi Noguchi - DOB: December 19, 1973 - Place of birth: Saitama, Japan
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