is a Japanese model, actress and singer. She formerly used the stage name when she was with Snow Rabbits Productions. After Izumi returned to the modeling world in 2008, she used both 泉里果 and 泉里香 as stage names; both are pronounced "Izumi Rika".

Life

Isumi was born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

. Her first major acting role was as

Ami Mizuno is a fictional character in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi. She is the alternate identity of , a teenage Japanese schoolgirl, and a member of the Sailor Guardians, supernatural female fighters who protect the Solar Sys ...

(Sailor Mercury) in the live action ''

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The serie ...

''. In Act Zero and the Special Act, she was credited as "Rika" (梨華; note different

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

than her current stage name). She released a CD "single", containing two songs, for her character Sailor Mercury: ''Mi Amor'' (Spanish: ''my love'') and ''Yakusoku'' (約束, meaning ''promise''). Before PGSM, Izumi's only television work was on an Idol special on Sky PerfecTV Japan called "Being Junior, Go!" She has also modeled in magazines called ''Monthly De-View'' (Winter 2002–2003). ''Pichi Lemon'' (Summer 2003), ''For Lillie'' (April 2003), ''Up-To-Boy'' (November 2003), and ''Melon'' (July 2003 to June 2005, when it stopped publication). She was on the cover of three consecutive issues of ''Pure Pure'' or ''Pure²'', a magazine aimed at the under-fifteen crowd (Issues 17 to 19, her photos were along with those of many other like-aged idols). She had released a single in November 2003 for a song entitled "Koisuru Soldier" ('' Kanojo wa Ijiwaru'' Nasty Girl"was the other song on that CD; it was released on her agency's label and distributed by Windsong). She was also in a magazine called ''Bomb!'' with

Miyuu Sawai is a Japanese actress, model, and gravure idol.http://www.box-corporation.com/?portfolios=沢井美優 Her best-known role was Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon in the live-action adaptation of '' Sailor Moon'' which ran from 2003 to 2004. Personal ...

and

Keiko Kitagawa is a Japanese actress and former model. She was an exclusive model for the Japanese '' Seventeen'' magazine from late 2003 to mid-2006, and quit modeling when she left the magazine. Her first acting role was Sailor Mars in the Sailor Moon live ac ...

in character as Sailor Mercury. After PGSM, Izumi's career went on hiatus for two years as she finished high school. No new photos of her surfaced, and when she attended PGSM cast reunions, her ex-castmates were careful not to post her full name in blogs nor post photos of her. When she was accepted at Meiji University as a literature major in 2007 (the same university ex-PGSM castmate Kitagawa attended), she resumed her career. In June 2008, Rika returned to the modeling world after years of inactivity. She was in the top twelve in a competition for the title of "Pinky Princess" (total number of entrants: 5,427). She signed with Sun Music Brain agency on June 1, 2008.泉　里香 (いずみ　りか)
sunmusic-brain.jp (in Japanese) New photos of her appeared in the August 2008 issue of ''Ray'' magazine, and she has appeared in subsequent issues. The ban her former castmates had of posting photos of her was lifted; she was photographed with Sawai, Kitagawa,

Mew Azama , born December 26, 1986, in Hiroshima Prefecture and raised in Okinawa Prefecture, is a Japanese model and actress. Azama signs her name "Mew" using romaji characters. She explains it in her profile: "美優 is read Mew. I was named from Kyōk ...

, and

Ayaka Komatsu Ayaka Komatsu ( ja, 小松彩夏 ''Komatsu Ayaka''; born 23 July 1986) is a Japanese model, gravure idol and actress. She was born in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture. Biography Modeling career Her modeling agency is Amuse inc. She was a regular ...

at a party celebrating Komatsu's twenty-second birthday, and Komatsu posted the photo on her blog on August 7, 2008. In December 2008, she appeared in a commercial for

Nissin Food Products Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd. is a Japanese food company that specializes in the production and sale of convenience food and instant noodles. History Founding and early years The company was established in Japan on September 1, 1948, by T ...

. In May 2010, she moved from Sun Music Brain to Sun Music Productions, another division within the same agency. She has been mentioned as being in the casts of three movies: ''The Go Master'' (2006), ''Clearness'' (2008), and ''Go Seigen'' ("Five Restrictions") (2008). The Sun Music Brain bio lists a November 2007 movie with Izumi in the cast. It was called ''Oh Kiyohara''. Rika has also done runway modeling since her 2008 return. In 2011, she had a cameo in the movie ''Paradise Kiss'' in which she was reunited with her ex-PGSM castmate Kitagawa. In 2013 she played the role of Akira Kazuraba (Kota's sister) in ''

Kamen Rider Gaim is a Japanese television series, a tokusatsu drama that is in the Kamen Rider Series; it is the 15th series during its Heisei period, Heisei run and 24th overall. The series, written by Gen Urobuchi, directed by Ryuta Tasaki and produced by Naomi ...

''. She is currently signed with Stardust Promotion, he
official profile page
on Stardust states she is part of the cast of the 2016 movie ''Scoop!''.

Filmography

Movies

* ''

The Go Master () is a 2006 biopic film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang of the renowned twentieth century Go master Wu Qingyuan, better known as Go Seigen, the Japanese pronunciation of his name. The film, which premiered at the 44th New York Film Festival, foc ...

'' (2006) * ''Clearless'' (2008), Reiko * ''

Paradise Kiss ''Paradise Kiss'', also abbreviated to ''ParaKiss'', is a josei manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. It appeared as a serial in the Japanese fashion magazine ''Zipper''. Shodensha collected the chapters into five volumes. Th ...

'' (2011) * ''

Scoop! ''Scoop!'' is a 2016 Japanese suspense comedy drama film directed by and starring Masaharu Fukuyama. It was released in Japan by Toho on October 1, 2016. Plot Cast * Masaharu Fukuyama as Shizuka Miyakonojō *Fumi Nikaidō as Nobi Namekawa *Yō ...

'' (2016) * ''

Waiting for Spring ''Waiting for Spring'' is an album by American pianist David Benoit released in 1989 and recorded for the GRP label. The album reached No. 1 on the '' Billboard'' Jazz Albums chart. Track listing All tracks written by David Benoit except as n ...

'' (2018), Nanase Kashiwagi * ''The Memory Eraser'' (2020), Nanami Ando * ''You're Not Normal, Either'' (2021), Minako Togawa * ''That Disappearance'' (2022)

Television

* ''

'' (2003-2004, CBC), Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury * ''

Magerarenai Onna is a Japanese television drama that aired on NTV between 13 January and 17 March 2010. Synopsis Ogiwara Saki ( Miho Kanno) is a woman who does not go with the flow of society but forges her own path. She hates flattering men and trying to be nice ...

'' (2010,

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...

) * ''Shin Keishichō Sōsaikka 9 Kakari'' Season 2 Episode 11 (2010,

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...

), Risa Mizoguchi * ''Nasake no Onna: Kokuzeikyoku Sasatsu-kan'' Episode 4: (2010, TV Asahi), Sachi Oda * ''Karyū no Utage'' Episode 1 (2011,

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 terrestr ...

) * ''Tempest'' Episode 7 (2011, NHK BS Premium) * ''Tokyo Jōkyū Date #7 Kuramae'' (2012, TV Asahi) * ''Koisuru Hae Onna'' (2012, NHK), Arisa Mita * ''

Shomuni (also called Power Office Girls) is a comedic TV drama serial based on the Japanese manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the la ...

'' (2013,

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 S ...

), Akane Mita * ''

'' (2013, TV Asahi), Akira Kazuraba * ''Ms. Kanna!'' Episode 6 to 9 (2017, TBS) * ''

Princess Jellyfish is a Japanese ''josei'' manga series written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ''Kiss'' from October 2008 to August 2017. The manga is licensed in North America by Kodansha USA. An 11-episo ...

'' (2018, Fuji TV), Syoko Inani * ''Galápagos'' (2023, NHK)

References

External links

Rika's official Stardust Profile page

Rika's Official Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Izumi, Rika 1988 births Japanese gravure models Japanese female models Japanese film actresses Japanese television actresses Living people Actresses from Kyoto Stardust Promotion artists Musicians from Kyoto 21st-century Japanese actresses