# Yōsuke Kubozuka

Yōsuke Kubozuka (窪塚 洋介, Kubozuka Yōsuke, born May 7, 1979 in Yokosuka, Kanagawa) is a Japanese actor and musician.

## Career

Yosuke Kubozuka has been a model for many magazines and TV commercials before starting out his acting career where he debuted in a 1995 TV crime drama Kindaichi Case Files. In 1998, he starred in the TV series GTO as the role of an honors student, Yoshito Kikuchi. In 2000, he starred in Ikebukuro West Gate Park along with Tomoya Nagase, Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha, Inception) and Tomohisa Yamashita (Nobuta wo Produce, Kurosagi, Operation Love, Code Blue). In this drama he starring as the role of "King" of the G-Boys, Takashi Ando.
In 2001, he starred in Strawberry on the Shortcake along with other popular young artists such as Hideaki Takizawa and Kyoko Fukada. In the drama he took the role of being Kyoko Fukada's first love.
In October of that same year, Go (directed by Isao Yukisada), which tells the story of a Zainichi chosenjin teenager who falls in love with a Japanese girl, was officially released. For his performance in this role, Kubozuka took home two awards (Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Newcomer of the Year) at Japan Academy Film Prize. Kubozuka also appeared in Mr. Children's 2002 "Kimi ga Suki" music video, which won MTV Video Music Award Japan for Video of the Year in 2002 (Mr. Children also nominated in Best Group Category but losing to Backstreet Boys).
Since then, Kubozuka took on projects starring in Ping Pong, Kyoki no Sakura as well as Samurai Resurrection.
He also appeared in films such as Tokyo Island, Monsters Club, Helter Skelter, and the 2016 remake of Silence directed by Martin Scorsese.
Kubozuka has also been pursuing his career as a reggae musician by the name 'Manji Line' (卍 LINE) since 2006.

## Personal life

Kubozuka graduated from Kanagawa Prefectural Yokosuka High School. He married a non-celebrity woman in May 2003 and had one son. In 2004, he survived after falling 26 metres from his 9th floor apartment. On July 12, 2012, Kubozuka announced through his official website that he had divorced his wife a month earlier, and that he has official custody of his son. Kubozuka remarried in December 2015, a daughter was born in 2017.

## Filmography
### Films

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2001 | Go | Sugihara | Lead role |
| 2015 | Deadman Inferno | Shirakawa | |
| 2016 | Silence | Kichijiro | American film |
| 2017 | Alley Cat | Hideaki Asa / Maru | |
| 2019 | The First Supper | Shun | |
| 2020 | Mio's Cookbook | Komatsubara | |
| 2021 | First Love | Gamon Makabe | |
| 2021 | DIVOC-12 | | Anthology film |
| 2021 | Go Seppuku Yourselves | | |
| 2023 | Sin Clock | Shinji Takagi | |
| 2023 | Home Sweet Home | | |
| 2023 | Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower | George (voice) | |
| 2023 | Knuckle Girl | Shiraishi | South Korean-Japanese film |
| 2024 | Transcending Dimensions | | |
| 2025 | Frontline | | |
| 2025 | The Killer Goldfish | | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1998 | Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO) | Yoshito Kikuchi | |
| 2000 | Match Making | Junichi Ohata | |
| 2000 | Ikebukuro West Gate Park (IWGP) | Takashi Ando, G-Boys King | |
| 2023 | Phoenix: Eden17 | George (voice) | |
| 2024 | Tokyo Vice | Naoki Hayama | Season 2 |
| 2024 | GTO Revival | Yoshito Kikuchi | |

### Stage Play

| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2015–16 | The Teachings of Kaiju | | Lead role | |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work(s) | Result |
| 2001 | 26th Hochi Film Awards | Best Actor | Go! | Won |
| 2002 | 25th Japan Academy Film Prize | Best Actor | Go! | Won |
| 2002 | 25th Japan Academy Film Prize | Newcomer of the Year | Go! | Won |
| 2002 | 23rd Yokohama Film Festival | Best Actor | Go! | Won |