Yuya Yagira (born March 26, 1990) is a Japanese actor. At the age of 14 in 2004, he became the youngest winner of the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of 12-year-old Akira in the acclaimed film Nobody Knows. He was not a professional actor when filming began in 2002, and he went on to work in television and film, appearing in projects such as All to the Sea, Under the Nagasaki Sky, and the biopic Asakusa Kid.
Acting career
Yagira was 12 years old and not a professional actor when filming began for Nobody Knows in 2002. He moved quickly into television work and other films afterward. He co-starred with Eriko Sato in Akane Yamada's All to the Sea, released in 2010, and with Kie Kitano in Taro Hyugaji's Under the Nagasaki Sky, released in 2013. In 2021 he played the young Takeshi Kitano in the biopic Asakusa Kid.
Personal life
Yagira married television personality Ellie Toyota, whom he had met in high school. The couple registered their marriage in January 2010 and held a wedding ceremony at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine the following day. They have one daughter, born in October 2010. In 2008 he was hospitalized after a drug overdose, which early reports described as a suicide attempt; he later denied this, saying he had taken the pills after an argument with his family and had called an ambulance himself.
Brand endorsements
In 2018, Yagira became the brand ambassador for the Japanese men's grooming brand GATSBY. He starred in the television commercial "GATSBY Cop" alongside the Japanese actor Mackenyu Arata.