Early Life and Pre-fame
Born in Tokyo, Kimura lived in Minoh, Osaka until he was six years old. Then, he lived and attended elementary school and junior high school in Chiba. One of his relatives sent in the application to the Johnny & Associates talent agency, which specializes in young male teen idols, and he became a member of Johnny's Juniors, a group of trainees, in 1987. Then he became one of the 12 members in a unit called "Skate Boys". Skate Boys used to be backup dancers of Hikaru Genji, which at the time was a very popular group. In 1988, SMAP was created, and he joined. The group then consisted of six members: Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Katsuyuki Mori, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Shingo Katori; Katsuyuki Mori later left SMAP to pursue an autoracing career in the mid 90s. After SMAP was formed, each member pursued an individual career by starring in B-list television dramas. Their first single "Can't Stop!! Loving" was released in 1991, but it received mixed reviews.
Read more about this topic: Takuya Kimura
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Humanity has passed through a long history of one-sidedness and of a social condition that has always contained the potential of destruction, despite its creative achievements in technology. The great project of our time must be to open the other eye: to see all-sidedly and wholly, to heal and transcend the cleavage between humanity and nature that came with early wisdom.”
—Murray Bookchin (b. 1941)
“From age eleven to age sixteen I lived a spartan life without the usual adolescent uncertainty. I wanted to be the best swimmer in the world, and there was nothing else.”
—Diana Nyad (b. 1949)