biography of Keiko Kitagawa

nayeem

May 27, 2025 - 05:15

May 27, 2025 - 12:41

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Born	August 22, 1986 (age 38) Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
Alma mater	Meiji University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2003–present
Agent	Stardust Promotion
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Spouse	Daigo (m. 2016)
Children	2

Keiko Kitagawa

(北川景子, Kitagawa Keiko, born August 22, 1986) is a Japanese actress. 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 action show Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (2003–2004), and after her role in the film Mamiya Kyōdai, she left modeling to concentrate on acting. She has appeared in several films, including The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) and Handsome Suit (2008), and has played leading roles in the TV Dramas Mop Girl (2007), Homeroom on the Beachside (2008), Buzzer Beat (2009), Lady Saigo no Hanzai Profile (2011), and Akumu-chan (2012).

Career

Within a week of joining an agency, Kitagawa was selected as a model and an actress. She was chosen as Miss Seventeen in 2003,which led to her working as a model with the Japanese Seventeen until she graduated from the magazine in September 2006. In the latter part of the run, she had her regular feature, "Keiko's Beauty Honey".

As an actress, Kitagawa was given the role of Rei Hino in the live action television series of Sailor Moon, which began her acting career. Her first significant film role was in Mamiya Kyōdai, and as result of the influence of the director, Yoshimitsu Morita, she decided to concentrate on acting rather than modeling. She initially concentrated on films, including the leading roles in Cherry Pie and Dear Friends. In late 2007, she had her first leading role in a TV drama, in the late-night drama Mop Girl. In 2008, she was given the role of the heroine in Homeroom on the Beachside, Fuji Television's Monday 9pm drama for the summer season.

Kitagawa moved to Tokyo when she started working as an actress and model, and has lived there since. She traveled to California to film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and returned there to study English for a couple of months early in 2006.^[11] From May to December 2007, she wrote a column entitled "Keytan Hakusho" for the Japanese weekly television listings magazine Weekly The Television.

Kitagawa has described herself as a stay-at-home person who likes watching DVDs, listening to music, and reading books. When asked what she would do if the world were going to end tomorrow, she said "read books". She is managed by Stardust Promotion.

She has appeared in the films Mizu ni Sumu Hana (2006), Mamiya Kyōdai (2006), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Cherry Pie (lead role) (2006), Dear Friends (lead role) (2007), Sono Toki ha Kare ni Yoroshiku (2007), Southbound (2007), Heat Island (2007), Handsome Suit (2008), Orion in Midsummer (2009), I'll Pay (2009), After the Flowers (lead role) (2010), and Matataki (lead role) (2010), and Elevator to the Scaffold (2010).

She appeared in the TV dramas Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (2003–4), Mop Girl (lead role) (2007), Homeroom on the Beachside (2008), Buzzer Beat (2009),and Moon Lovers (2010),^[The After-Dinner Mysteries (2011), Hero (2014), and Detective versus Detectives (2015).

Early life

Kitagawa was born on August 22, 1986 in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and has a younger brother. She grew up in Kobe, and lost many friends in the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995. As a child, she wanted to be a doctor, but by the time she reached high school she was uncertain as to whether she could do that, and not sure what to do in the future. At around this time, she was scouted by a talent agency, and she decided to try the entertainment world. Her parents were initially opposed, but they gave their permission, on two conditions: that she give up if she was making no progress within a year, and that she put her studies first and graduate from university. She has kept the second half of the promise, graduating in commercial science from Meiji University in Tokyo in March 2009.

Personal life

In 2016, Kitagawa married singer-songwriter Daigo.The same year, Kitagawa won the Japanese Television Academy Award for Best Actress for Ie Uru Onna.

On April 22, 2020, she announced her first pregnancy. On September 7, she gave birth to her daughter.On September 25, 2023, Kitagawa and her husband jointly announced through their agency that they are expecting their second child. On January 31, 2024, she gave birth to a son.

Film

Year	Title	Role
2006	The Mamiya Brothers	Yumi Honma
	Mizu ni Sumu Hana	Rikka Mizuchi
	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	Reiko
	Cherry Pie	Kiyohara
2007	Dear Friends	Rina Takahashi
	Say Hello for Me	Momoka Katsuragi
	Southbound	Youko Uehara
	Heat Island	Nao
2008	The Handsome Suit	Hiroko Hoshino
2009	Last Operations Under the Orion	Shitsuko Arisawa/Izumi Kuramoto
2009	It's On Me	reporter
2010	After the Flowers	Ito
	Elevator to the Gallows	Mikayo Matsumoto
	Piecing Me Back Together	Izumi Sonoda
2011	Paradise Kiss	Yukari Hayasaka
2012	Magic Tree House	Jack (voice)
2013	The After-Dinner Mysteries	Hosho Reiko
2013	Roommate	Harumi Hagiwara
2014	Judge!	Hikari Ota
	I Just Wanna Hug You	Tsukasa Yamamoto
	Akumu-chan The Movie	Ayami Mutoi
2015	The Pearls of the Stone Man	Satoko Kobayashi
	Something Like, Something Like It	Yumi
	Hero	Chika Asagi
2017	Hamon: Yakuza Boogie	Yuki
	Let Me Eat Your Pancreas	Kyōko (present days)
	The Last Shot in the Bar	Mari Misaki
2018	Punk Samurai Slash Down	Ron
	Hibiki	Fumi Hanai
	Stolen Identity	Asami Inaba
	My Teacher, My Love
2019	The Hikita's Are Expecting!	Sachi Hikita
2020	Stolen Identity 2	Asami Inaba
	The Legacy of Dr. Death: Black File	Asuka Takachiho
	The Promised Neverland	Mom Isabella
2021	First Love	Yuki Makabe
	It's a Flickering Life	Sonoko Katsura
	The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window	Keiko
2022	Dreaming of the Meridian Arc	Eimi Kobayashi / Ei
	Anpanman: Dororin and the Transforming Carnival	Dororin (voice)
	Fragments of the Last Will	Mojimi Yamamoto
2023	Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie	Sailor Cosmos (voice)