is a Japanese actor, singer, television host, and a former member of

SMAP SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-pi ...

, one of the best-selling boy bands in Asia.

Early life

Kusanagi grew up in

Kasukabe, Saitama is a special city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 233,278 in 108,328 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Kasukabe is famous for the production of , traditi ...

, Japan.

Career

Music

In 1987, at age 13, Kusanagi auditioned to enter

Johnny & Associates is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as . History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ...

, a Japanese talent agency that recruits and trains young boys, preteens to teens, to become singers and members of boy bands. After five of the other band members auditioning individually from 1986 through 1987, in autumn 1987, twenty boys, from ages ten to seventeen, were put together into a group called The Skate Boys, which was initially created as backup dancers for a famous boy band,

Hikaru Genji is the protagonist of Murasaki Shikibu's important Heian-era Japanese novel '' The Tale of Genji''. The story describes him as a superbly handsome man and a genius. Genji is the second son of a Japanese emperor, but he is relegated to civilia ...

. In April 1988, producer

Johnny Kitagawa John Hiromu Kitagawa (Japanese name ; October 23, 1931 – July 9, 2019), known professionally as , was an American-born Japanese businessman and talent manager. He was the founder and president of Johnny & Associates, a production agency for nu ...

chose six out of the twenty boys to create a new boy band and named them "SMAP". A year after the dissolution of SMAP, Kusanagi, alongside former members

Shingo Katori is a Japanese actor, singer, television host, radio personality. He was the youngest member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy band in Asia. After the group's disbandment on 31 December 2016, Katori has been pursuing his solo career. He left ...

, and

Goro Inagaki is a Japanese musician and actor from Itabashi, Tokyo. Inagaki was a member of the Japanese pop group SMAP. A year after the group's dissolution, Inagaki, alongside his former bandmates Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori formed the group Atar ...

formed the group, Atarashii Chizu.

Acting

He had the lead role in the movie, (January 18, 2003; a Japan public presentation). Moreover, his Korean-language-Japanese-produced movie (March 6, 2004 Japan public presentation) was submitted to the

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...

on June 25, 2004. In 2020, Kusanagi took on the role of Nagisa, a transgender nightclub worker in Eiji Uchida's

Midnight Swan is a 2020 Japanese drama film directed by Eiji Uchida, who also wrote the screenplay. It received nine nominations at the 44th Japan Academy Film Prize, including Director of the Year and Screenplay of the Year, winning for Picture of the Ye ...

. The film won numerous awards, such as Picture of the Year, and he was subsequently awarded the

Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role The of the Japan Academy Film Prize The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本ア� ...

Television

As a member of the boyband

, Kusanagi used to co-host the weekly variety show

SMAP×SMAP ''SMAP×SMAP'', often referred to simply as ''Sma-Sma'', was a Japanese television variety show hosted by boy band SMAP. Debuting on April 15, 1996, it was produced by Kansai TV and Fuji TV and aired on Fuji TV every Monday from 10:00 p.m. t ...

alongside his fellow bandmates for 20 years. In 2001, he hosted the variety show ''Chonangang'' on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sys ...

. Determined to debut in Korea, Kusanagi started learning the Korean language and appearing on Korean variety shows. This focus on Korean culture led to him adopting ''Chonangang'' as his Korean persona in various SMAP concerts, even releasing several singles. Originally, ''Chonangang'' was intended to focus on Kusanagi's journey in South Korea, however lasted eight years due to its popularity. Because of the show's success, the format shifted to feature interviews with popular Korean celebrities such as

Lee Min-ho Lee Min-ho (, born June 22, 1987) is a South Korean actor, singer, model, creative director and businessman. He gained widespread fame worldwide with his role as Gu Jun-pyo in ''Boys Over Flowers'' (2009) which also earned him the Best New Acto ...

, and led to Kusanagi interviewing former South Korean Presidents

Roh Moo-hyun Roh Moo-hyun (; ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea between 2003 and 2008. Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...

, and

Lee Myung-bak Lee Myung-bak (; ; ; born 19 December 1941) is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the 10th president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and the ma ...

on TBS.

Personal life

Kusanagi announced his marriage on December 30, 2020.

Arrest

On April 23, 2009, at around 3 a.m., Kusanagi was arrested on suspicion of public indecency at Akasaka,

Minato, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits th ...

. On April 24, 2009, he held a press conference accompanied by his attorney and apologized for his misbehavior. Prosecutors decided not to indict Kusanagi because of his apology. He took a one-month-long hiatus and returned to the taping of '' SMAPxSMAP'' on May 28, 2009.

Filmography

Film

Television (as actor)

Television (as personality)

Japanese dub

Radio

Theatre

Publications

* ''Kore ga Boku desu.'' (April 1997) * ''Okiraku'' (March 2007) * ''Kusanagiron'' (May 2008) * ''Okiraku 2'' (March 2016) * ''Jeongmal Book'' (December 2002) * ''Jeongmal Book Hangul'' (December 2002) * ''Jeongmal Book 2'' (November 2004) * ''Jeongmal Book 2.5'' (November 2004) * ''Tsuki no Machi Yama no Machi'' (February 2011) * ''Document Kusanagi Tsuyoshi in Yomigaeri'' (2003) * ''The Hotel Venus Starring Kusanagi Tsuyoshi'' (2004) * ''Nippon Chinbotsu Photo Book featuring Kusanagi Tsuyoshi'' (2006) * ''Yama no Anata Tokushi no Koi'' (2008)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kusanagi, Tsuyoshi 1974 births Living people SMAP members Japanese idols People from Seiyo, Ehime Japanese television personalities Actors from Ehime Prefecture Actors from Saitama Prefecture Japanese male film actors Japanese male pop singers Japanese male stage actors Japanese male television actors Japanese male voice actors Musicians from Ehime Prefecture Musicians from Saitama Prefecture 20th-century Japanese male actors 20th-century Japanese male singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese male actors 21st-century Japanese male singers 21st-century Japanese singers Horikoshi High School alumni Japanese male YouTubers Japanese YouTubers