Yuta Nakamoto

, known professionally as Yuta (), is a Japanese singer, dancer, rapper, and actor based in South Korea. He is a member of the South Korean boy group NCT, debuting in the group's second fixed sub-unit NCT 127 in 2016 shortly after joining SM Rookies, and in the group’s first rotational sub-unit NCT U in 2020.

Early life

Yuta was born on October 26, 1995, in Kadoma, Osaka, Japan. He is the second of three children and has an older sister and a younger sister. He graduated from Yashima Gakuen University International High School. Yuta played soccer from ages five to 16 and wanted to become a professional footballer, a dream he gave up to pursue a career as an idol.

Career

2011–2015: Pre-debut activities

Yuta became interested in an idol career in 2011 after watching TVXQ on television. He attended multiple auditions despite not having any background in singing or dancing. In 2011, he participated in an audition program "Juice Winter Collection". In 2012, he participated in SM Entertainment's first Global Audition without the permission of his parents and was one of three out of 10,000 participants to pass. When he was 16, he participated in a month-long training camp in Seoul in the summer. On December 23, 2013, he was introduced as a member of SM Rookies, a pre-debut team of trainees under SM Entertainment.

As part of the SM Rookies program, in August 2014, Yuta appeared on the Mnet-produced '' Exo 90:2014'', a show starring labelmates Exo, where they danced to K-pop songs from the '90s, and participated in the music video remake of H.O.T.'s "Hope" and Jo Sung-mo's "Do You Know". In July 2015, Yuta appeared as the Japanese representative on ''Abnormal Summit'', a show with a panel of non-Korean men residing in South Korea, debating Korean culture but left the show to focus on his debut in December 2015. In April 2016, he starred in the first season of the reality show ''NCT Life,'' which focused on the SM Rookies and their journey to their debut.

2016–present: Debut with NCT 127, solo activities and radio show

In July 2016, he debuted as a member of NCT 127 with their first EP, ''NCT #127''. From November 2016 to January 2017, he appeared on TV Chosun's ''Idol Party'', in which comedians Park Mi-sun and Lee Bong-won become a family, adopting him and Sorn of CLC as their children.

From December 2017 to May 2018, he starred in the program ''NCT 127: Road to Japan'', broadcast by AbemaTV. He co-hosted the 2019 Idol Star Athletics Championships Chuseok Special alongside Leeteuk, Dahyun, Johnny, Jaehyun and Mark.

In September 2020, NCT's second large-scale project and two-part second studio album, ''NCT 2020 Resonance'', was announced. On October 12, Yuta made his debut in the sub-unit NCT U with the songs "Dancing In The Rain", "Faded In My Last Song", and "From Home". In November, he participated in the second part of the NCT 2020 album, ''NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2'', appearing on the tracks " Work It" and "Raise the Roof". On November 24, 2020, it was announced that Yuta would host a two-month weekly radio show, ''NCT 127 ja, ユウタの, label=no YUTA at Home'', on InterFM897 to promote NCT 127's second Japanese EP ''Loveholic'' in Japan, which charted at number one on Oricon. On March 19, 2021, it was announced the radio show broadcast would be extended and converted into regular program.

Since 2021, Yuta appeared in numerous Japanese magazines such as ''PMC'', ''Ginger'' and '' Numéro TOKYO''. On June 21, 2021, a Tom Ford Neroli Portofino endorsement with Yuta was announced through ''Vogue Japan'''s YouTube channel. In September 2022, Yuta made his acting debut in the movie ''High&Low The Worst X (Cross)''. In October 2022, Yuta was featured on '' Forbes Japans list "30 Under 30".

Filmography

Film

Television

Radio show

Bibliography

Photobooks

References

External links

Yuta
at SM Town

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamoto, Yuta
1995 births
Living people
Japanese male pop singers
Japanese expatriates in South Korea
Musicians from Osaka Prefecture
People from Kadoma, Osaka
NCT (band) members
SM Entertainment artists
Japanese male dancers
Japanese dance musicians
21st-century Japanese male singers
21st-century Japanese singers
Korean-language singers of Japan
Japanese K-pop singers
Japanese male film actors