Haruma Miura


Haruma Miura was a Japanese actor and singer signed to Amuse Inc. He made his acting debut in 1997 in the television drama Agri and rose to popularity in 2007 after starring in the film Koizora, winning Newcomer of the Year at the 31st Japan Academy Prize. In the following years, Miura notably starred in the third season of Gokusen, Bloody Monday, Naoko, Kimi ni Todoke, Last Cinderella, Boku no Ita Jikan, The Eternal Zero, Attack on Titan, Gintama 2, and Two Weeks. He also starred as Lola in the Japanese production of Kinky Boots, winning Best New Actor and the Haruko Sugimura Award at the 24th Yomiuri Theater Awards. In addition to his acting career, Miura debuted as a singer in 2019 with the single "Fight for Your Heart", which was followed by "Night Diver" in 2020.

Career

1997–2006: Early acting career

Miura made his acting debut in the television drama adaptation of the novel Agri when he was seven years old. He was enrolled at the Tsukuba branch of Actors Studio and was concurrently a member of the boy band Brash Brats with two other students. Following the closure of Actors Studio, the three signed to Amuse Inc. As Brash Brats went on indefinite hiatus in 2005, Miura continued his acting career. Early notable television projects that he appeared in include Ima, Ai ni Ikimasu, Unfair, Children, 14-sai no Haha, and Fight. He also appeared in the films Mori no Gakkō and Akihabara@Deep. His first starring role was Taiyō Sasaki in the 2006 film Catch a Wave.

2007–2010: Rise to popularity

In 2007, Miura starred in the film Koizora as Hiro, and he also appeared in the film Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge. Some footage from Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge also appeared in the music video for "Be Free" by Greeeen, the film's theme song. Following the release of Koizora, Miura won Newcomer of the Year for his role in the film at the 31st Japan Academy Film Prize. In 2008, he was cast as Ryo Shiraishi in Binbō Danshi, Ren Kazama in the third season of Gokusen, and Fujimaru Takagi in the live-action television drama adaptation of Bloody Monday, as well as a guest appearance in a special episode of Galileo as a younger version of the main character, Manabu Yukawa. In addition, he appeared in the music video for "Umaku Ienai" by Yuzu. Miura later starred in the film Naoko and won the Sponichi Grand Prix Newcomer Award at the 63rd Mainichi Film Awards for his performance. In October 2008, he released his second photobook, Letters. By the end of 2008, Miura's rise in popularity led him to rank No. 3 on Oricon's annual list of "18-year-olds expected to be successful" in 2008. Oricon ranked him No. 1 in a list of "most anticipated actors for 2009." He also ranked No. 1 in a list of "actors of interest" in a survey published by the magazine Ori-Star.
In February 2009, Miura was one of seven recipients who won Newcomer of the Year at the 2009 Elan d'or Awards. In April 2009, he appeared in the film Crows Zero 2 as Tatsuya Bitō. In March 2009, he reprised his role in Gokusen: The Movie, which was later released in July 2009. From June 20, 2009 to July 26, 2009, Miura starred in his first stage production, Hoshi no Daichi ni Furu Namida. In September 2009, Miura was cast as Kotaro Mochizuki in Samurai Seventeen, which was later renamed Samurai High School; this was his first leading role in an NTV drama.
In January 2010, Miura reprised his role for the second season of Bloody Monday. His third photobook, Switch, was released on February 5, 2010. In the same month, Miura released an idol DVD with Takeru Satoh chronicling their trip to New York City, which was titled HT: NY no Chūshin, Nabe no Tsutsuku. The DVD sold 12,000 physical copies upon release, ranking No. 5 on Oricon's weekly DVD charts. In April 2010, he was cast as Shōta Kazehaya in the live-action adaptation of Kimi ni Todoke, which was later released on September 25, 2010. In September 2010, he made his runway debut modeling at the 2010 Kobe Collection Autumn/Winter Show. Later that year, he was cast in his first getsuku drama, Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta, as Shūji Kashiwagi, which was broadcast in January 2011.

2011–2015: Domestic and international success

In May 2011, Miura played Kensuke Sanada in the episode "Janken" of television mini-series Yo ni mo Kimyō na Monogatari in during the 2011 spring serialization. He appeared in the television drama Saigo no Bansan: Keiji Tōno Kazuyuki to 7-nin no Yōgisha as Eiji Miyata in the last 45 seconds of the final episode as a teaser to the television drama Hi wa Mata Noboru, which he starred in. Hi wa Mata Noboru was later broadcast in July 2011. In June 2011, Miura starred in the film Tokyo Park. On November 11, 2011, Miura and Satoh released a second part of their video diary, titled HT: Sekidō no Mashita de, Nabe no Tsutsuku, which was filmed in Malaysia. The DVD charted at #2 on the Oricon Weekly DVD Chart and sold 14,000 physical copies on its first week of release, making it the best-selling male idol DVD.
In 2012, Miura co-starred in the stage play Kaitō Seven as Wild Upper. He then played lead in episode 8 of the television mini-series Keigo Higashino Mysteries. From 2012 to 2013, he co-starred in the stage play Zipang Punk: Goemon Rock III as a guest performer, portraying Akechi Shinkuro. In 2013, Miura co-starred in Last Cinderella as Hiroto Saeki. Last Cinderella enjoyed high ratings throughout its broadcast, and the producers of the series partially attribute its success from the "playful" sex appeal of the characters, particularly the scene of Miura's character taking a shower. In the same year, Miura co-starred in the animated film , providing the voice to Yama. He also co-starred in the film The Eternal Zero as Kentaro Saeki, and he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor at the 38th Japan Academy Prize for his performance.
In 2014, Miura starred in the television drama Boku no Ita Jikan as Takuto Sawada and Satsujin Hensanchi 70 as Keisuke Miyahara. On April 18, 2020, he released his fourth photobook, Fureru. In June 2014, he starred in the music video for "Bakemono" by Nico Touches the Walls. In July 2014, at the 51st Galaxy Award, Miura won the Individual Award for his performances on Last Cinderella and Boku no Ita Jikan. He also starred in the live-action film adaptation of Five Minutes to Tomorrow, a Japanese-Chinese co-production, and learned Mandarin Chinese for the film. In 2015, Miura portrayed Val Xavier in the Japanese stage production of Orpheus Descending. He also portrayed Eren Jaeger in the two-part live-action film adaptation of Attack on Titan, with both films releasing in 2015.

2016–2020: Music debut and final projects

In 2016, Miura co-starred in the live-action television drama adaptation of Never Let Me Go. Later, he was cast as Lola in the Japanese stage production of Kinky Boots. His performance was critically acclaimed, earning Best New Actor and the Haruko Sugimura Award at the 24th Yomiuri Theater Awards. He was cast as Ii Naochika in the , which was later broadcast in 2017. In January 2017, Miura was one of the recipients awarded at the 26th Japan Jewelry Best Dresser Award. In September 2017, he co-starred in the television drama Otona Koukou and also appeared in the music video for "Reportage" by Yu Takahashi, the theme song of the series.
In 2018, Miura co-starred in the Japanese film remake of the 2011 South Korean film Sunny, portraying Wataru Fujii, as well as the film A Banana? At This Time of Night? He was cast as Sato in the live-action film adaptation of the novel Eine Klein Nachtmusik, which was released in 2019 and also screened internationally under the title Little Nights, Little Love. He also appeared in Gintama 2 as Kamotarō Itō. On television, Miura became a co-host for the travel program Sekai wa Hoshii Mono ni Afureteru: Tabi Suru Buyer Gokujō List with Juju. For the fall 2018 season of Yo ni mo Kimyō na Monogatari, Miura starred in the episode "Asu e no Warp" as Mineo Kobayashi, as well as Makoto Ameku in episode 1 of the television mini-series Tourist. He starred in the television drama Dying Eye as Shinsuke Amemura.
In early 2019, Miura was cast in the film The Confidence Man JP as Jesse, which released later in the year. He starred in the Japanese stage production of Crime and Punishment as Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov. He reprised his role as Lola for the 2019 re-run of the Japanese production of Kinky Boots. In April 2019, Miura was cast as Daichi Yūki in the television drama, Two Weeks, as his first kayōku drama. In June 2019, Miura announced he was releasing his debut single, "Fight for Your Heart", as the theme song for Two Weeks. "Fight for Your Heart" released on August 7, 2019, charting at #12 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and #34 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 on its first week of release. Miura also won the Asia Star Award at the Seoul International Drama Awards for his performance in Two Weeks. In November 2019, Miura was cast in the live-action film adaptation of the manga Brave: Gunjō Seiki as Matsudaira Motoyasu.
Miura reprised his role as Jesse for The Confidence Man JP: Episode of the Princess. In March 2020, he was cast as Hiroyuki Ishimura in the television drama Gift of Fire, which was set to broadcast in August 2020, and reprised his role for the series' film continuation. In the same month, he released his fifth photobook, Nihonsei, in two different versions, with one version including a documentary photobook. He co-starred in the Japanese stage production of Whistle Down the Wind as The Man, which ran from March 7 to April 23, 2020. On his 30th birthday on April 5, 2020, he revealed on an Instagram live-stream that he was releasing "Night Diver" as his second single in early Q3 2020, which contained three songs from different genres including a dance song and a love song. He also stated that he composed and wrote the lyrics for "You & I", one of the B-side tracks, and "Night Diver" was later set to debut on Music Station on July 24, 2020. He was set to have his first concert events in Q4 2020, but they were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were planned to be live-streamed instead. He co-starred in the television drama Love Will Begin When Money End, which will be broadcast in September 2020, and was also cast in the musical The Illusionist'', which was set to run in December 2020.

Personal life

Miura attended Horikoshi High School and graduated in 2009. From September 2016 until November 2017, Miura dated choreographer Koharu Sugawara. From 2016 to 2020, Miura participated in the charity event Act Against Aids. In 2017, he briefly studied abroad in London.

Death

On July 18, 2020, at 1:35 pm, Miura was found unresponsive after hanging himself in his closet at his home in Minato, Tokyo. His body was discovered by his manager, who had checked up on him after he did not arrive for work as scheduled. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:10 pm. Police believe Miura died by suicide, as an apparent suicide note was found in his room. The contents of the note have not been made public, and Miura's friends have stated he showed no signs of being suicidal prior to his death. Media news outlets linked it to cyberbullying and hate comments on social media, but Miura's friends and colleagues partially or completely refuted the claims.
NHK reported on July 20, 2020, that Miura's funeral and burial services had already been held. While fans paid tribute to Miura by leaving flowers outside of his condominium, his agency, Amuse Inc., announced that they will be setting up an opportunity for fans to pay respects while taking in consideration the COVID-19 pandemic. After the official website for Sekai wa Hoshii Mono ni Afureteru: Tabi Suru Buyer Gokujō List, the travel program Miura had co-hosted since its first broadcast in 2018, posted a statement offering condolences to Miura, this led many users on Twitter to tweet messages addressed to him using the hashtag "SekaiWaHoshiiMonoNiAfureteru".
Miura's second single, "Night Diver", was released posthumously on July 25, 2020 which was initially planned to be released on August 24, 2020. Gift of Fire and The Illusionist, two upcoming projects that Miura co-starred in, were put on hold. Miura's debut single, "Fight for Your Heart", re-entered the music charts, peaking at No. 7 on Oricon Daily Singles Ranking.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music video

YearArtistSongNotes
2007Greeeen"Be Free"
2008Yuzu"Umaku Ienai"
2013C&K"Mikan Heart"
2014Nico Touches the Walls"Bakemono"
2017Yu Takahashi"Reportage"

Theater

DVDs

Discography

Singles

Publications

Photobooks

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryNominated WorkResultRef.
200831st Japan Academy PrizeNewcomer of the YearKoizora
20092009 Elan d'or AwardsNewcomer of the YearHimself
200963rd Mainichi Film AwardsSponichi Grand Prix New Talent AwardNaoko
201451st Galaxy AwardIndividual AwardLast Cinderella, Boku no Ita Jikan
201538th Japan Academy PrizeBest Supporting ActorThe Eternal Zero
201728th Japan Jewelry Best Dresser AwardHimself
201724th Yomiuri Theater AwardBest Actor AwardKinky Boots
201724th Yomiuri Theater AwardHaruko Sugimura AwardKinky Boots
2019Seoul International Drama AwardsAsia Star AwardTwo Weeks