Ryunosuke Kamiki

Ryunosuke Kamiki (神木 隆之介, Kamiki Ryūnosuke; born May 19, 1993) is a Japanese actor. Starting his career as a child prodigy, he has garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards for his performances across 25 years in the industry.^[2][3][4]

Ryunosuke Kamiki
神木 隆之介
Kamiki in 2023
Born	(1993-05-19) May 19, 1993 (age 32) Fujimi, Saitama, Japan
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1995–present
Agent(s)	Central Group (1995–2005) Amuse, Inc. (2006–2021) Co-LaVo (2021–present)[1]

Kamiki debuted in a 1995 commercial. Four years later, he had a leading role in the television drama Good News (1999). His early film roles include Spirited Away (2001), Bayside Shakedown 2 (2003), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006 (2006) and Big Man Japan (2007). He had his first leading roles in Takashi Miike's The Great Yokai War (2005) and Daihachi Yoshida's The Kirishima Thing (2012) and played supporting characters in Keishi Ōtomo's jidaigeki actioners Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno and Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends as well as Miike's horror film As the Gods Will (all 2014).

In 2016, Kamiki voiced the lead in Makoto Shinkai's anime film Your Name, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the 11th Seiyu Awards. After this, he collaborated with Shinkai again on Weathering with You (2019) and Suzume (2022) as supporting characters. Kamiki later co-starred with Minami Hamabe in two productions released in 2023: the TV drama series Ranman and Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus One. His performance in the latter earned him global critical acclaim and the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor.

Personal life

Kamiki was born on May 19, 1993.^[5][6] He was fragile in infancy, spending months in intensive care, and at one point was given only a 1% chance of survival. He was not discharged from the hospital until he was seven months of age. Doctors believed that even if he survived, he would live his life with disability. His mother came up with the idea of making him a child actor to leave concrete proof of his existence.^[7] His family consists of his grandparents, father, mother, an older sister (11 years older than him) and two nieces. His grandmother died in 2020.^[8]

Career

Kamiki began acting as a child actor after entering the Central Group talent agency. His first commercial was for a Toy Box when he was only two years old. He made his television debut with the 1999 drama Good News in a lead role. In 2001, when he was five years old, he was personally scouted by Hayao Miyazaki. Kamiki went on to voice characters in many of Studio Ghibli's feature films, giving him the title of the Ghibli Child. In 2004, he led the film Backdrop del mio Papa,^[9] for which he won his first award. In the following years, he continued to work both as an actor and voice actor, winning awards every two years. Kamiki won the Rookie Award 2020 at the Elan d'or Awards, one of the most prestigious awards in Japan.^[10]

On March 16, 2021, Kamiki left Amuse and founded Co-LaVo along with Takeru Satoh.^[11][12][13]

Other ventures

Kamiki wrote his first book Master's Cafe: The Fulfillment of Masters' Dreams in 2015. He approached fifteen professionals who are active on the front lines of various fields.^[14] In 2019, he made his stage debut with the play Beautiful: The Woman Who Met with God, written and directed by Suzuki Matsuo.^[15][16] The following year, he debuted in multiple fields such as a radio host for All Night Nippon 0 (ANN0), directing the music video for "I Treasure You" and opened his official YouTube channel. He was also the official photographer for Satoh's 2021 calendar. In 2020, he started to conceptualize his annual calendar.^[17]

The 2021 calendar, one part of the 25th anniversary project, was started when "Novel characters I want Kamiki to play" video was posted on his Twitter, urging fans to suggest novel characters for him to portray. It garnered reactions from many celebrities, including voice actor Yuki Kaji and film director Shunji Iwai, among others. Finally, twelve novels were selected from the retweets to represent the themes for the twelve months. The lineup expanded from classics to more recent pieces. The calendar shot by the renowned photographer and film director Mika Ninagawa was a new attempt to play different roles for twelve works in the calendar. As Yonosuke in Ihara Saikaku's The Life of an Amorous Man for August, props such as smoke tubes are used in a colorful set to express the sex appeal of adults that has never been seen before by him, and the novel published in May cover, No Longer Human (as Ōba Yōzō), the darkness of human beings and the beauty of men are produced. Of the twelve novels so far, Mysterious Weather at Yanaka's Retro Camera Store (as Imamiya Ryūichi) and Hamlet (as Ophelia), including the prior mentioned works have been confirmed. For this project, Kamiki sported silver hair for the first time, with shooting taking two days to complete. The calendar was sold on December 25, 2020, to signify the 25 year anniversary.^[18]

Kamiki was invited to be the photographer for Takeru Satoh's 2021 Calendar. The concept of a "photobook-like calendar" featured natural expressions when spending time with friends—with a sense of distance that can be taken by an old friend. It is a special calendar taken in places where Satoh wants to go with Kamiki and where he would like to take pictures of him, such as driving the car, in Shibuya and Harajuku, in maid cafes, etc. He took over eight thousand photos. Some are excluded in the desk calendar. He wants to have a photo exhibition and albums.^[19][20]

In 2022, Kamiki excavated one of the world's oldest ichthyosaur fossils in Minamisanriku in his first fossil excavation during the filming of From Miyagi. The fossil is on display at the Minasan Museum.^[21]

Artistry and public image

In the award-winning The Great Yokai War,^[22][23] he overcame his fear of swimming. For his role in Kokoro no Ito, he learned sign language and the piano. In 2022, he was voted the Most Powerful Actor in Japan.^[24]

Filmography

Films

Live-action

Year	Title	Role	Ref(s)
2003	Rockers	Taku (young)	[25]
	Bayside Shakedown 2		[26]
2004	Backdrop del mio Papa[9]	Kazuo	[27]
	Ren'ai Shōsetsu ("Love Story")	Satoshi Kubo (young)	[28]
	Install	Kazuyoshi Aoki	[29]
	Survive Style 5+	Keiichi Kobayashi	[30]
2005	Zoo		[31]
	The Great Yokai War	Tadashi Ino	[32]
2007	Big Man Japan	Warabe-no-jū	[33]
2008	Into the Faraway Sky	Ryūnosuke Kusunoki	[34]
	Little DJ: Chiisana Koi no Monogatari	Tarō Takano	[35]
2009	20th Century Boys 3: Redemption	Katsumata	[36]
2012	SPEC: Heaven[37]	Ninomae Jūichi	[38]
	The Kirishima Thing	Ryōya Maeda	[39]
2013	SPEC: Close	Ninomae Jūichi	[38]
2014	Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno	Seta Sōjirō	[40]
	Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends	Seta Sōjirō	[41]
	As the Gods Will	Takeru Amaya	[42]
2015	Bakuman	Akito Takagi	[43]
	Poison Berry in My Brain	Ishibashi	[44]
2016	Sun	Tetsuhiko Okudera	[45]
	Too Young To Die!	Daisuke	[46]
2017	March Comes in Like a Lion	Rei Kiriyama	[47]
	March Goes Out Like a Lamb	Rei Kiriyama	[47]
	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable	Koichi Hirose	[47]
	Tales of Chigasaki[48]	Jun'ichi Miyaji	[49]
2019	Fortuna's Eye	Shin'ichiro Kiyama	[50]
	Murders at the House of Death	Yuzuru Hamura	[50]
2020	Last Letter	Kyōshirō Otosaka (young)	[51]
2021	Rurouni Kenshin: The Final	Seta Sōjirō	[52]
	The Great Yokai War: Guardians	Katō	[53]
2022	Noise	Shin'ichirō Moriya	[54]
	xxxHolic	Kimihiro Watanuki	[55]
	Yokaipedia	Antiquarian bookshop owner	[56]
	Dr. Coto's Clinic 2022[57]	Ryūichi Sugimoto	[58]
2023	We're Broke, My Lord!	Matsudaira Koshirō	[59]
	Godzilla Minus One	Kōichi Shikishima	[60]
2024	Saint Young Men: The Movie	Johannes	[61]
	At the Bench		[62]

Animation

Year	Title	Role	Ref(s)
2001	Spirited Away	Boh	[63]
2003	Kirikou and the Sorceress	Kirikou	[64]
2004	Howl's Moving Castle	Markl	[65]
2006	Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006	Piisuke	[66]
	Hoshi o Katta Hi	Nona	[67]
2008	Piano Forest	Shūhei Amamiya	[68]
2009	Summer Wars	Kenji Koiso	[69]
2010	Arrietty	Sho	[70]
2011	The Princess and the Pilot	Charles Karino	[71][72]
2016	Your Name	Taki Tachibana	[47]
2017	Mary and the Witch's Flower	Peter	[51]
2019	Weathering with You	Taki Tachibana	[73]
2020	Doraemon: Nobita's New Dinosaur	Piisuke (Archive voice from 2006 film)
2021	The Crocodile That Lived for 100 Days	Crocodile	[74]
2021	Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time	Shinji Ikari (Adulthood)	[75]
2022	Suzume	Tomoya Serizawa	[76]

Television

Live-action

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1999	Good News	Naoya		[77]
2000	Aoi Tokugawa Sandai	Gorōtamaru	Taiga drama	[78]
	Namida o Fuite	Ryota Fuchigami		[79]
	Quiz			[80]
	The Woman of S.R.I. Season 2	Yusuke	Episode 2	[81][82]
	Tekkoki Mikazuki	Fuo Iwado (young)	Episode 6	[83]
2001	Kamen Rider Agito	Overlord of Darkness (young) Overload of Light (young)	Dual role	[84]
	Doctor/Kranke	Kenta Oikawa		[85][86]
	Hamidashi Keiji Jonetsu Kei Season 6	Sakanuma Ryo	Episodes 6 and 20	[87]
	Maria	Kondo Masashi	Episode 7	[88]
	Mukodono!	Arai Tsutomu		[89]
	Shingo Mama Drama Special Ooh Will Save the World	Ken		[90]
2002	Psycho Doctor	Kitamura Kenta	Episode 6	[91]
	Tantei Kazoku	Tanaka Taro		[92]
	Wedding Planner	Terashima Taku		[93]
	Omiya	Seiichiro		[94]
	Kanojotachi no Christmas			[95]
	Emergency Room 24 Hours Special	Toinomoto Ryo		[96]
2003	Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger	Kerato	Episode 36	[47]
	Boku no Mahōtsukai	Michio (young)		[97]
	Dr. Coto's Clinic	Ryuichi Sugimoto	Episodes 5, 7, and 11	[98][58]
	Shizumanai Hone	Shota	TV movie	[99]
2004	Ōoku	Iemochi Tokugawa		[100]
	Ōoku 3 SP: Bakumatsu no Onnatachi	Tokugawa Iemochi		[101]
	Re'nai Shōsetsu	Kubo Satoshi (young)		[102]
	Dr. Coto's Clinic 2004 Special	Ryuichi Sugimoto		[103]
2005	The Life Heritage	Ryota Nakajima		[104]
	Charming[105]	Horo Mashiba		[106]
	Yoshitsune	Ushiwakamaru	Taiga drama	[107][108]
2006	Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad Special	Nakagawa Masaya (young)		[109]
	Detective School Q Special	Renjō Kyu		[110]
2007	Dondo Hare	Tomoya Asakura	Asadora	[32]
	Ruri no Shima Special 2007: Hatsukoi	Miyahara Shion	TV movie	[111]
	Tantei Gakuen Q	Renjo Kyu		[112]
	Amazing World	Yuji		[113]
2008	Kaze no Gāden			[114]
2009	Akahana no Sensei			[115]
2010	Bloody Monday		Episodes 6, 7	[116]
	Keizoku 2 "Spec"	Ninomae Juichi		[117]
	Kokoro no Ito		TV movie	[118]
2011	Koukousei Restaurant	Yōsuke Sakamoto		[119]
	Odd Family Eleven[120]	Kazuo Sanada		[121]
2012	Kiyomori[122]	Minamoto no Yoshitsune	Taiga drama	[123][108]
	Blackboard: Teachers Against the Tide of Time[124]	Omiya Masaki	Episode 3	[125]
	SPEC: Life[126]	Ninomae Juichi		[127]
2013	The Family Game	Shin'ichi Numata		[128]
	SPEC: Zero[129]	Ninomae Juichi		[130]
	Kogure Shashinkan	Hanabishi Eiichi		[131]
	SPEC: Close – Incarnation	Ninomae Juichi		[132]
	SPEC: Close – Reincarnation	Ninomae Juichi		[133]
2014	Henshin	Jun'ichi Naruse		[134]
	Fathers[135]	Tatsuya	Episode 9	[136]
	The Files of Young Kindaichi Neo[137]	Kurasuma Hikaru	Episode 1	[138]
	Tales of the Unusual: Fall 2014	Shirai Naoki		[139]
	Time Slip!	Aoyama Hikaru	Web drama	[140]
	Toki wa Tachidomaranai	Hamaguchi Mitsuhiko		[141]
2015	The Girl's Speech	Kei Shizukui		[142]
	Samurai Teacher[143]	Sakamoto Ryōma		[144]
2017	Detective Yugami	Hanyu Toaro	Lead role	[145]
	Yasuragi no Sato	Hamura Shunichiro	Week 26	[146]
2018	School Lawyer Shotaro Taguchi[147]	Shotaro Taguchi	Lead role	[148]
	True Horror Stories: Summer 2018	Sasaki Yusuke		[149]
2019	Idaten: The Epic Marathon to Tokyo[150]	Gorin	Taiga drama	[78]
	Everyone's Demoted!![151]	Kōji Takigawa		[152]
2020	Bones of Steel	Heita Tomishima	Lead role	[51]
	Sanjūjinkaku to Mahōtsukai	Himself		[153]
	True Horror Stories: Summer 2020	Ozawa Naoya		[154]
2021	Ojisama to Neko	Fukumaru (voice)		[155]
	Life's Punchline	Shunta Asabuki		[156]
	Life's Punchline's Spinoff Makubes no 23-ji	Shunta Asabuki		[157]
2022	A Day-Off of Ryunosuke Kamiki	Himself	Lead role; miniseries	[158]
	If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student.	Yūri Koga		[159]
2023	Ranman	Mantarō Makino	Lead role; Asadora	[160]
2024	The Diamond Sleeping Under the Sea	Teppei Araki / Reo Kusaka	Lead role	[161]

Television Animation

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes	Ref(s)
2021	Ani × Para	Yukihiro	NHK-BS1	Episode 12	[162]
2021	Ao and Kii	Ao	NHK-E	Lead role	[163]

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Ref
2019	Kirei: Kamisama no machiawase shita onna	Harikona	[164]
2020	Don't Turn Out the Lights! Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon		[164]
2021	Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum	Editor	[165]

Dubbing

Live-action

Year	Title	Role	Voice dub for	Notes	Ref(s)
2004	I, Cesar	Cesar	Jules Sitruk		[166]
2005	March of the Penguins	The chicks	Jules Sitruk		[167]
2021	Parasite	Kim Ki-woo	Choi Woo-shik	NTV edition	[168]

Animation

Year	Title	Role	Ref(s)
2003	Kirikou and the Sorceress	Kirikou	[169]
2006	Arthur and the Invisibles	Arthur	[170]
2009	Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard	Arthur	[170]

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2004	Backdrop del mio Papa[9]	The Japanese Movie Critics Awards 2004: Rookie of the Year	Won
2006	The Great Yokai War	The 29th Japan Academy Film Prize: Newcomers of the Year	Won
2007	Tantei Gakuen Q (2007)	54th Japanese Drama Academy Awards: Lead Actor	Won[171]
2011	Kokoro no Ito	Seoul International Drama Awards: Popular Actor	Won
2011	Kokoro no Ito	Mipcom Buyers' Award for Japanese Drama	Won
2011	Kokoro no Ito	47th Hugo TV Awards Feature Film Category Gold Award	Won
2011	Kokoro no Ito	51st Monte-Carlo Television Festival: Best Actor	Nominated
2011	Kokoro no Ito	51st Monte-Carlo Television Festival: The AMADE Prize	Won
2012	The Kirishima Thing and SPEC: Heaven[37]	Tama Cinema Forum: Best Emerging Actor	Won
2012	The Kirishima Thing	37th Hochi Film Award: Best Actor	Nominated
2014	Fathers	Galaxy Monthly Awards: TV	Won
2013	The Family Game	The 17th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix Spring: Best Supporting Actor	Won[172]
		The 77th The Television Drama Academy: Best Supporting Actor	Won
		The 23rd TVLife Drama Award 2013: Best Supporting Actor	Won
2015	Poison Berry in My Brain and Bakuman	40th Hochi Film Awards	[173][174]
2015	Popularity	Seoul International Drama Awards: Asian Stars	Won[175]
2015	The Girl's Speech/Samurai Teacher	TV Navi's Drama Awards 2015	Won
2016	Too Young to Die!	Fantasia Film Festival: Best Asian Feature Silver	Won
2016	Too Young To Die!	Rotterdam International Film Festival: Netpac Award	Nominated
2016	Too Young To Die!	New York Asian Film Festival: Audience Award	Won
2017	March Comes in Like a Lion	42nd Hochi Film Award: Best Actor	Nominated[176]
2017	Your Name	The 11th Seiyu Awards: Best Lead Actor	Won
2018	Detective Yugami	The 10th CONFiDENCE AWARD DRAMA PRIZE: Best Supporting Actor	Won
2018	Detective Yugami	The 95th Drama Academy Award: Best Supporting Actor	Won
2020	Idaten: The Epic Marathon to Tokyo	The 44th Elan d'or Awards: Best Producer	Won
2020	Idaten: The Epic Marathon to Tokyo and Fortuna's Eye	The 44th Elan d'or Awards: Newcomer of the Year	Won
2021	Life's Punchline	The 108th The Television Drama Academy Awards: Jury Votes	Won[177]
2024	Godzilla Minus One	The 66th Blue Ribbon Awards: Best Actor	Won[178]
		The 47th Japan Academy Film Prize: Best Actor	Nominated[179]

^{[180][181][182][183][184]}

Other works

Books

Year	Title	Publisher	Note	ISBN	Reff
2005	Photobook My Bōken by Kentaro Atsuchi	Kadokawa Shoten		978-4-048-53882-4
	Boy Actor vol.1 Cover / Long Gravure	Pia		978-4-835-61593-6
2006	BOYS: GRASSROOTS Cover / Main Gravure	INFAS Publications		978-4-900-78537-3
2015	Kamiki Ryunosuke's Master's Cafe: The Fulfillment of Masters' Dreams	Magazine House	Writer	978-4-8387-2800-8	[185]
2017	Sincérité	Amuse	Photobook
2020	Omote Kamiki / Ura Kamiki	Amuse	Autobiography		[186]
2023	KamikiKochi	Co-LaVo

Magazine Serialization

Year	Title	Publisher
2013–2015	Kamiki Ryunosuke's Master's Cafe	AnAn

Direction

Title	Year	Note	Reff
"I Treasure You" MV	2019	15th Anniversary SUPER HANDSOME COLLECTION 「JUMP↑」	[187][188]

Photography

Title	Year		Reff
Takeru Satoh's 2021 calendar	2020	Calendar	[189]
Take a breath with this night written by Ichi Kitahara	2020	Book Cover

Documentary

Year	Title	Role	Network	Reff
2001	Chosuke Ikariya Wild Africa Adventure: Travel 16,000 km with an 8-year-old best friend	Guest	TV Tokyo	[190]
2012	The Future of the Earth! Urgent Report: "Thinking with Seiji Miyane! What is a sustainable world?	Narrator	NTV
2012	Newly Discovered Art Variety "Aho! World!"	Narrator	Fuji TV	[191]
2013	Newly Discovered Art Variety "Aho!"	Studio Guest, Narrator	Fuji TV
2014	Ryunosuke Kamiki 20-year-old trip Going to the Vietnam border railway-in search of the most beautiful terraced rice fields in the world	Host	BS Japan
2015	NHK Special NEXT WORLD Our Future	Host	NHK
2020	Coronavirus, Youth, Us: Swimming club's last summer of high school	Narrator	NHK	[192][193]
2021	Butterfly Effect because that day exists, now exists.	Narrator	NHK General TV	[194]

Narration

Year	Title	Role	Reff
2010	The Legend of Alma: The Story of a Dog You Don't Know	Alma's Voice
2013	How Nollywood movies are made. Nigeria's "World's Best Movie City": Dreams and Fervor

Radio

Program

Year	Title	Station	Note	Reff
2020	Kamiki Ryunosuke All Night Nippon 0 (ZERO)	Nippon Broadcasting System
2021	Kamiki Ryunosuke no RADIO MOG STATION presented by Final Fantasy XIV	TOKYO FM and other JFN 38 stations nationwide	Live Radio YouTube	[195]

Drama

Year	Title	Role	Station	Reff
2005	Bonkura	Santaro Odeko	ABC Radio	[196]
2006	Daily life	Santaro Odeko	ABC Radio

Web drama

Year	Title	Role	Note	Reff
2014	Time Slip! Yasubee Horibe	Mitsuru Aoyama		[197]
2018–ongoing	Ishiki takasugi! Takasugi-kun	Takasugi-kun	CM Series	[198]

Audio Drama

Year	Title	Role	Distributor	Notes	Reff
2021	300-Nen Go Nihon Mukashibanashi	Riimantaro	Numa	voicing 7 characters	[199][200]
	Koi Samurai	Ochiai Masayasu		is being novelized	[199][201]

Music Video Appearances

Year	Song title	Artist
2004	"Aya-Aja-"	Southern All Stars
2004	"Strike"	Suneohair
2007	"Sweet Fragrance (Movie Ver.)"	Cocco
2012	"The sun rises again"	Yu Takahashi
2018	"Sasanqua"	Sekai no Owari

Drama CD

Year	Title	Role
2003	Lagoon Engine	Jin Ragun

Game

Year	Title	Role	Reff
2010	Zack and Ombra: The Forgotten Amusement Park	Zack	[202]

Discography

Year	Title	Role	Reff
2016	"TOO YOUNG TO DIE! Hell's Song Hell"	Guitarist
	"TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"	Vocals
	"Heaven"	Vocals