Nina Makino-Hillman (born February 27, 2005), also known professionally as , , and monomously as , is an American singer and former

child actress The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...

based in Japan. She is a member of the Japanese girl group

NiziU NiziU ( ja, ニジュー; ko, 니쥬), stylized as NIZIU, is a Japanese girl group formed by JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The group is composed of nine members: Mako, Rio, Maya, Riku, Ayaka, Mayuka, Rima, Miihi, and ...

. Makino began her career as a child actress, appearing in several acting and campaign projects. After passing the first Amuse Multilingual Artists Audition held by

Amuse Inc. is a Japanese entertainment company that provides artist management services. The artists include idols, musicians, and so on. Amuse produces TV and radio programs, commercial films, and movies. Other interests are in publication, music software ...

, Makino relocated to Japan and appeared in the film ''Blood Friends'' (2019). She left the company to participate in

JYP Entertainment JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, tale ...

's survival reality program ''

Nizi Project ''Nizi Project'' ( "Rainbow Project") is a 2020 Japanese reality competition show. The series is a joint project between JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan with the intention of creating a Japanese girl group aimed at a glob ...

'', where she, after finishing in ninth place, became a member of NiziU.

Early life

Makino was born on February 27, 2005, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, United States. She was born to a Japanese mother and an American father. She has an older sister. After moving to Japan in 2017, Makino lived in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

. Makino is fluent in English and Japanese.

Career

Pre-debut

While at ACT (A Contemporary Theatre), Makino starred as Trixie in ''

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' is a three-act play written by Tennessee Williams. An adaptation of his 1952 short story "Three Players of a Summer Game", the play was written by him between 1953 and 1955. One of Williams's more famous works and his p ...

'' (2015). Makino was the understudy for the musical theatre performance ''

The Secret Garden ''The Secret Garden'' is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in ''The American Magazine'' (November 1910 – August 1911). Set in England, it is one of Burnett's most popular novels and ...

'' for the role of Mary Lennox. She portrayed the young Beatrice Chance in the

Book-It Repertory Theatre Book-It Repertory Theatre (often shortened to "Book-It") is a regional theatre located in Seattle, Washington. It is a 501-c(3) registered nonprofit corporation, and is devoted to "transforming great literature into great theatre through simple an ...

's production of ''The Brothers K, Part One: Strike Zone''. Makino was also a featured actress in the online video campaign "How Girls Will Change the World", which promoted

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

education for girls. Her first acting role outside of theater was the American web series ''Divine Shadow'' (2016), an independent production filmed in

Burien, Washington Burien ( ) is a suburban city in King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington, United States, located south of Seattle on Puget Sound. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Burien's population was 52,066, which ...

2017–2019: Early Japanese projects

In 2017, Makino was one of six female finalists out of 4,000 applicants who passed the first Amuse Multilingual Artists Audition held by

She signed with the company and moved to Japan. Her audition was partially broadcast on the television program ''

Why Did You Come to Japan? is a Japanese television programme presented by Osamu Shitara and Yūki Himura, a comedy duo known as "Bananaman". It is a regular programme on TV Tokyo on Monday evenings. The show was first broadcast in the form of two pilot shows in June and O ...

'' in a segment focusing on the audition finals. Makino was cast in

Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including ''Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer'' (1984), ''Angel's Egg'' (1985), ...

's film ''Blood Friends'', which was filmed in 2018. In 2019, she became a regular on

NHK Educational TV , abbreviated on-screen as NHK E, is the second television service of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). It is a sister service of NHK General TV, showing programs of a more educational, cultural or intellectual nature, periodically also sh ...

show '' Suiensā'' as a member of the Suiensā Girls.

2020–present: ''Nizi Project'' and NiziU

In 2019, Makino left Amuse to audition for

's reality survival program ''

'' (2020) under the name Nina Hillman, where she competed to secure a spot in the label's next girl group. Out of 10,231 applicants, Makino came in ninth place, and she went on to join the new girl group, which was later named

. The group debuted on December 2, 2020, with their lead single, " Step and a Step". With the public release of ''Blood Friends'' in 2022 after years of postponement, several Japanese media outlets have discussed that media promotions for the film were not allowed to mention that Makino is a member of NiziU due to troubles negotiating with JYP Entertainment, who had distanced her from her previous acting career.

Filmography

Film

Web series

Television

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Makino, Nina 2005 births Living people 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Japanese actresses American actresses of Japanese descent American emigrants to Japan Japanese expatriates in South Korea Japanese K-pop singers Japanese people of American descent Japanese-language singers Japanese female idols JYP Entertainment artists Korean-language singers of Japan Musicians from Seattle People from Washington (state)