is a Filipino-Japanese actress and singer. She was a member of

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements b ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

and its spin-off unit

Diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is clo ...

. As an actress, Akimoto has appeared in both Japanese and American productions, and made her Hollywood debut in '' Sniper: Assassin's End'' (2020). She also provides the Japanese dub for

Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

Biography

Early career

Akimoto was born to a Japanese father and a Filipino mother. In 2012, she ran the

Tokyo Marathon The is an annual marathon sporting event in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. It is a World Athletics Platinum Label marathon and one of the six World Marathon Majors. The latest edition of the race took place on . It is sponsored by Tokyo Metro. H ...

for the second year in a row and donated the money to the Philippines. Her solo book of photographs is entitled ''Ari no Mama''. On June 26, 2014, Akimoto was appointed as the Goodwill Philippine Tourism Ambassador in order to promote the Philippines as a tourist destination in Japan. She was also assigned as a narrator in the collaboration drama of

PTV-4 DWGT-TV, Channel 4 (analog) and channel 14 (digital), is a non-commercial flagship station of Philippine-government owned television network People's Television Network. Its head office, studios and analog-digital transmitter are located at Br ...

and

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

entitled "Halo Halo House-Jose's Nippon Diary"

2006–2013: AKB48 member

Akimoto began her career in

as one of the members of the second generation, the Original Team K. On the last day of the Budokan concert on August 23, 2009, during the first team shuffle, Akimoto was officially made captain of Team K. She resigned after a scandal in 2010 but after completing the

in 2011, she was reappointed the position. On August 24, 2012, in the Tokyo Dome~1830m no Yume~ concert,

Yuko Oshima is a Japanese actress and former member of Japanese idol girl group AKB48, of which she was the captain of Team K. She was also a member of the AKB48 subunit Not Yet. In addition to the singles that involved the rock-paper-scissors tournaments, ...

replaced her as the captain of Team K via team shuffle. She has since been involved with sub-unit group

under

Avex is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other busi ...

. She became a regular on the popular noon TV show ''

Waratte Iitomo was a Japanese variety show aired every weekday on Fuji TV. The show was hosted by Tamori (Kazuyoshi Morita) and ran from 1982 to 2014. The show was produced in the Studio Alta building in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The show featured a series of regular mem ...

'' from 2010 to 2012''.'' She was also featured as one of the members in AKB48's own anime television show alongside other members

Minami Takahashi is a Japanese idol, singer, tarento and a former member of the Japanese girl idol group AKB48. She is in Team A of AKB48. She became the first of AKB48 and its sister groups. In an interview with Nippon Television in June 2010, AKB48 produce ...

Tomomi Itano is a Japanese recording artist, songwriter, dancer, model, and actress. She is a former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. She was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. In 2011 she debuted solo with a single titled " Dear J", which wa ...

Atsuko Maeda is a Japanese actress and singer. She is a former member of the idol girl group AKB48, and was one of the most prominent members in the group at the time, regarded as the group's "absolute ace", "immovable center", and the "Face of AKB." After ...

and others. On April 7, 2013, Akimoto announced on her official blog that she would not be participating in AKB48's 2013 general election, and would be graduating from AKB48 to focus on her acting. Her graduation ceremony was held on August 22 at the Tokyo Dome, and her final stage performance was held on August 28 at the AKB48 Theater, and has been streamed live by Nico Nico Namahousou.

2014–present: Solo career

In 2014, she reunited with her sub-unit group DIVA to release their final single "Discovery", an album, and a tour before disbandment. She composed and sang "Little Witch" which was the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

2014 Spring Campaign Theme Song. Since leaving AKB48 she has starred in four movies. She has a recurring role as Bikuu in ''Garo'' which led to a solo movie spin off in 2015. She sang the theme song of the movie entitled "Sengetsu ~Hikari to Yami no Soba de~". Akimoto was a co-host for Team Japan in the reality competition show ''

Ultimate Beastmaster ''Ultimate Beastmaster'' is an American sports entertainment reality show competition that premiered on Netflix on February 24, 2017. The show differentiates itself from other obstacle course competition shows by showcasing not only international ...

'' which was released on Netflix on February 24, 2017.

Discography

With AKB48

Singles

Singles with SKE48

Stage units

;Team K 1st Stage * * ; ;Team K 2nd Stage * Blue Rose * ;Team K 3rd Stage * ;Himawari Gumi 1st Stage * ;Himawari Gumi 2nd Stage * Confession ;Team K 4th Stage * ;Team K 5th Stage * (Solo Unit) ;Team K 6th Stage "Reset" * ;Team K Waiting Stage * *

With Diva

* "Tsuki no Ura gawa" ** "Fade out" ** "Information" ** "Blue rose -Diva ver.-" * "Cry" ** "No way out" ** "Chika Suidō" ** "Maria -Diva ver.-" * "Lost the Way" ** "Kanashimi no Mirage" ** "Kimi wa Pegasus -Diva ver.-"

Filmography

Movies

Television dramas

Stage plays

Musicals

Other television

Japanese dub

References

External links

*
Official agency profile

Sayaka Yamamoto
at Oricon * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akimoto, Sayaka 1988 births Living people People from Matsudo People from Makati Singers from Makati Actresses from Manila Japanese idols Japanese actresses AKB48 members Musicians from Chiba Prefecture 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers Japanese people of Filipino descent Filipino people of Japanese descent Japanese expatriates in the Philippines