Satoshi Ohno

Satoshi Ohno (大野 智, Ōno Satoshi^?, born November 26, 1980) is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, television personality, artist and radio host. He is best known as the leader of the popular boy band Arashi, who is under the management of Johnny & Associates, along with Masaki Aiba, Jun Matsumoto, Kazunari Ninomiya and Sho Sakurai.

Biography

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Ohno has one older sister. During middle school, his mother sent in his application to Johnny & Associates.^[1] An invitation to audition was sent back to Ohno, and he subsequently became a Johnny's Jr. on October 1994 at the age of 13.^[2]

Ohno was known as the "Dance Leader" of Arashi during the time of Arashi's debut.^[3] He subsequently became the reluctant leader of Arashi after winning against Sho Sakurai, the other "nominee" to be the leader of Arashi, in a round of rock-paper-scissors on senior Shōnentai's variety show Shōnentime. He is known to be the best dancer in Arashi as fellow members and other artistes from the same company alike have openly expressed their admiration for his dancing.^[4][5]

In Arashi concerts, he is one half of a comedy skit duo named "Ohmiya SK" with the other half being bandmate Ninomiya.

Recording career

Johnny's Jr.

After becoming a Johnny's Jr. in 1994, Ohno was part of temporary units such as J-Eleven with V6 members Hiroshi Nagano, Yoshihiko Inohara, Go Morita and Ken Miyake, Zeus with Tackey & Tsubasa member Tsubasa Imai, fellow Arashi member Sakurai and former Johnny's Jr. member Yuki Kohara, and Musical Academy (MA) with MA leader Shingo Machida and former MA member Jun Akiyama. In 1997, Ohno was cast as a regular in a stageplay named Kyo to Kyo.^[6] He withdrew from high school and moved to Kyoto in order to focus on the play that ran until 1998.^[1] Regardless of the fact that Ohno approached Johnny Kitagawa with his desire to quit Johnny's after Kyo to Kyo was over, Kitagawa continued to place him in other stage productions.^[6] When Ohno brought up his desire to resign again, Kitagawa asked him to help out with a song recording and to pack up for a trip to Hawaii, which turned out to be a press conference announcing the formation of Arashi.^[6] Since much of his junior days was spent in Kyoto, he was the least known member during Arashi's early days.^[6]

Arashi

On September 15, 1999 aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, it was announced that a new Johnny's group named Arashi, the Japanese word for storm, would make their debut on November 3, 1999. Their debut single, "Arashi", was used as the image song for the 8th World Cup of Volleyball hosted by Japan in 1999 and the group served as special supporters for the competition.^[7] The single went on to become a major hit, selling 557,430 copies in its first week^[8] and almost a million copies by the end of its chart run.

Solo ventures

In 2006, he performed his first solo concert 3104 (which can be read as his name Satoshi in Japanese).^[9] In 2009, he was the first in Arashi to release a solo single.^[10]

Acting career

He began acting in 1997 in a stageplay called Kyo to Kyo with MA leader Machida.^[11] Subsequently, Ohno continued to take part in other stageplays such as Koichi Dōmoto's Mask and Shōnentai's Playzone. When Arashi's formation was announced in 1999, all five members starred together for the first time in the volleyball-centered short drama V no Arashi because the group was appointed as supporters for the 1999 World Cup of Volleyball competition.

In 2002, Ohno made his motion picture debut in Pikanchi Life Is Hard Dakedo Happy, in which he acted with the rest of Arashi. Two years later in 2004, Ohno reprised his role for the sequel Pikanchi Life Is Hard Dakara Happy. In 2007, the group came together once again to act in a movie called Kiiroi Namida with Ohno acting as an oil painter.^[12] Although Ohno has appeared in the fewest dramas out of all the members, he has done a number of stageplays such as the Pū (風, Wind^?) series, West Side Story with fellow Arashi members Sakurai and Matsumoto, and Amatsukaze. However, in 2008, Ohno was given his first starring role in a serial drama.^[13] He co-starred with Johnny's Jr. member Toma Ikuta and played the role of a lawyer who sought for revenge against the person who murdered his brother years ago in the suspense drama Maō.^[13] Soon after in 2009, he was given another starring role in his first comedy Uta no Oniisan.^[14] With Kanjani8 member Ryuhei Maruyama, Ohno played a musician who unexpectedly becomes "Uta no Oniisan" for a children's program after being dumped by his girlfriend, kicked out of his band and labeled useless by his family.^[14]

On September 4, 2009, it was announced that a select number of different artists from Johnny's would take turns participating in a television mini-drama project on Fuji TV from October 23, 2009 to April 2010.^[15][16] Entitled 0 Gōshitsu no Kyaku, Ohno starred in the first story called "Akogare no Otoko", which ran for four episodes in total.^[16] The first story was about a salaryman and a club hostess visiting a strange "Room 0" that can reveal anyone's "grade" as a human being.^[16]

Other ventures

Ohno has his own radio show called Arashi Discovery, which is currently airing every weekday from Monday to Friday on FM Yokohama since October 10, 2002. In 2008, he became the first artist in Johnny's to hold an art exhibit, which was entitled "Freestyle".^[17]

Discography

For releases as a member of Arashi, please see Arashi discography.

Singles

• "Kumorinochi, Kaisei" (released on March 4, 2009 by J Storm)

Filmography

Publications

• Freestyle (published on February 8, 2008 by M.Co.)

Awards and nominations

References

• 嵐お宝フォトBook Big Wave, RECO Books, ISBN 4-862040-51-9.
• アラシゴト—まるごと嵐の5年半 Arashigoto, 集英社, 2005.7.31, ISBN 408780416X

Notes

External links

• Arashi's Official Site (J-Storm)