Naoki Nokubo


Naoki Nokubo is a Japanese variety star from Iwata, Shizuoka. He is also in charge of the management work at Breakpoint Inc.

Biography

Nokubo was born in Iwata, which was formerly known as Toyodachô, Iwata-gun, Shizuoka.
After graduating from Kinshin High School, Nokubo wanted to be part of the entertainment industry and went to an acting school in Tokyo. He later became a Watanabe Entertainment affiliate, and in August 2004, became one of the first "D-Boy Audition" recipients. This event selected the members for the upcoming young actor group D-Boys.
Nokubo appeared in television drama Mother & Lover in October of the same year. In 2005, he appeared in H2~Kimi toita Hibi, which is considered his most notable debut work. He became part of the "Geinō-kai Sensui Senshuken" team in the Quiz Present Variety: Q-sama!! in July 2006. This program is touted as the "entertainment world diving championship". In a two-hour special of the same program aired September, he broke the 115 meters record for the Yasuda Dai Circus' Dancho Yasuda at "No Dynamic, No Apnea, No Swimfin" and established Japan's diving record of at that time. Since then, he has regularly appeared in this team of Q-sama!! several times.
Nokubo also made his first appearance on the quiz variety programme Quiz! Hexagon II on 29 November 2006. He later became a regular performer in the summer of 2007, which gave him the break as an "Obaka Tarento." In addition, along with his co-stars Takeshi Tsuruno and Yusuke Kamiji, they formed the obaka unit Shuchishin and made their CD debut, releasing their eponymous single "Shuchishin" on April 2008. The record was a hit and his increasing popularity allowed him to expand to films. He acted on drama shows as an individual actor while continuing his appearances on different Japanese variety shows.
In 2009, a controversy involving Nokubo negatively affected his career. At the beginning of the year, he was active, acting in stage plays. But his pursuits and exposures have drastically decreased due to a disturbance regarding his office in April of the same year. Shinsuke Shimada was quoted saying Nokubo "left for a bit from tomorrow" in order to study. He also immediately left Hexagon II for the ending of FNS no Hi 26-Jikan TV 2009: Chō Egao Parade Bakushō! Odaiba Gasshuku!! broadcast on 25 and 26 July of the same year.
On 1 April 2010, his profile and blog were deleted from Watanabe Entertainment's official website, and it became clear that he left the same office. A few days later, he was announced to appear on the stage play Kimazuge: Ai no kotoba on the website of Gekiden Taishū Shōsetsuka, and his entertainment activities were reverted with that work.
In June of the same year, he joined the acting group "Ai no Katamari", derived from Gekiden Taishū Shōsetsuka, and also started an individual Twitter account, and entrusts fan letters, reception works, etc., to break-point in which the group are doing business alliances. In "ai-kata", in addition to stage performances, they would also be active in the formation and events of fan clubs.
He made a surprise performance at "Hexagon Family Concert 2011 We Live Hexagon," the last live performance of Quiz! Hexagon II, held at Makuhari Messe on 26 November 2011. Shuchishin were also reunited for one day only and their dissolution was announced at the same time.
On January 2012, he was treated as a "public place for the first time in three years" at the production press conference of the stage play Legend of the Galactic Heroes Chapter II: Free Planetary Alliance performed on April of the same year. In September of the same year, he appeared in a television drama for the first time in three and a half years with Tokyo MX's Danshi-ing!!.

Personal life

Nokubo is very good in sports and he started playing baseball since he was in elementary school and has expressed desire to play professionally in the future. In his junior high school, he won second place nationwide while playing in the Hamamatsu Senior of the Senior League, Taketoshi Goto of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, and others. When he was in second grade, he hit a home-run while playing at the Meiji Jingu Stadium.
He was also a captain when he was in third grade of Kinshin High School, and his name was listed on the draft candidate list of the Chunichi Dragons. Tomoyuki Oda and Masaki Hayashi were also in his second senior grade of high school.
He often went to see the games of Júbilo Iwata. He has also expressed in several interviews that he is a fan of Masashi Nakayama.
Prior to his acting career, Nokubo has also spoken several times about his experience as a doorman at Prada as a temporary part-time job. He began his acting career by auditioning for several shows such as Ayumi Hamasaki's Live Dancer Audition and the Asayan Men's Vocalist Audition, which produced Chemistry. He also participated in the auditions for Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger and Mahou Sentai Magiranger.

Office independence uproar

In 2009, his blog was said to be vandalized and it was temporarily suspended. It published articles regarding a planned independence from his management company, which created an uproar. Although it was updated smoothly after that, the updating of his blog was stopped at the end of the update on 30 March.
On 20 April of the same year, he opened the blog Full Count Never Give Up na Jinsei at Ameba Blog. Immediately after that, nearly 6,000 comments were received. In the article, there was a description that seems to confirm independence from his affiliated office, and, on the next day, large number of independent news was also posted on the Internet. However, the new blog was closed on the same day, and at the same time news about independence was all deleted from the net. Even at the PR event of the film Burn After Reading, which Nokubo attended the same day, he refused to comment on the issue further.
Presently, Nokubo is still signed as one of the talents of Watanabe Entertainment, which for its part has denied reports of the actor's independence.

Appearances

TV dramas

Books