Marika Itō

Nogizaka46

As a Nogizaka46 member, Itō appeared in several albums, concerts, short films, music videos, and television shows, including the million-selling singles "Influencer"^[3][4] and "Itsuka Dekiru kara Kyō Dekiru".^[4][5] In 2017, at the group's sold-out first Tokyo Dome concert, Itō performed for the last time as a Nogizaka46 member.^[6] After formally leaving the group, Itō remained on the talent roster of Nogizaka46's management company.^[7]

Acting

Itō's acting career began while she was still a member of Nogizaka46. She had a minor part in the 2013 movie Bad Boys J,^[8] but her first major film role was in Eyes, an adaptation of a story by Ring author Koji Suzuki.^[9][10] In 2017 she played a supporting role in Asahinagu, an adaptation of the manga of the same name, for which she had to learn how to use the naginata.^[11] In 2019, Itō was cast in her first post-Nogizaka46 film role, winning a supporting role in Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler, a film adaptation of the Homura Kawamoto manga of the same name.^[12] Later that year she played the role of Minatsu in the Kansai TV drama Junichi (潤一).^[13]

Itō's second lead role came in the 2021 film It's a Summer Film, in which she played Hadashi.^[14] Her performance earned a nomination for a Hochi Film Award for Best New Artist^[15] and a nomination for a Mainichi Film Award for Best New Actress,^[16] as well as a Best New Actress prize at the Tama Film Awards, which are part of the Tama Cinema Forum, a "people's choice film festival".^[17] The following year she appeared in supporting roles in the films To a More Transcendent Place^[18] and Sobakasu,^[19] and in several episodes of the Hikari TV series Drawing the Bath (湯あがりスケッチ).^[20] She also took on the lead role of Kurumi Enomoto, a food truck owner, in TV Tokyo's Traveling Sandwich (旅するサンドイッチ), a drama produced as part of TV Tokyo's efforts to promote regional revitalization in Takasaki.^[21]

Art and modeling

While in Nogizaka46, Itō art directed and styled several of her individual performance videos, which were included in bonus versions of singles and DVDs.^[22] Shortly before her graduation from Nogizaka46, Itō's first solo art exhibition was held in October 2017 at GALLERY X BY PARCO and featured photographs of fellow Nogizaka46 members, a room filled with objects meant to represent the contents of Itō's brain, and an original short film playing on a loop.^[23] In 2017 she also filmed her first solo commercial, for the app リクポ ("requpo"), based on a character she created and played in a Nogizaka46 music video.^[22] In 2018, Itō's photobook Étranger, for which she styled the clothing, was published.^[24] She was also selected to be the image model for the MOOSIC LAB 2018 music and film festival.^[25] In 2019 her solo art exhibition "HOMESICK" was held at Parco Gallery X in Shibuya.^[26] Itō also appeared as the sole performer in a 2022 commercial for the candy Puregumi, directed by Santa Yamagishi, who had also directed Itō in To a More Transcendent Place.^[27]

Films

Television

Animation

Solo art exhibitions

• 「伊藤万理華の脳内博覧会」, Gallery X by Parco, 2017^[23]
• 「伊藤万理華の脳内博覧会」, Kyoto Nippon Festival, 2017^[23]
• “HOMESICK”, Parco Gallery X, 2019^[26]

Photobooks

• エトランゼ (Étranger), Shueisha, 2018, ISBN 9784797673517

Advertising

• "まりかっと" commercial, requpo, 2017^[22]
• "滑走路" commercial, Puregumi, 2022^[27]