Masataka Kubota

Kubota was born in Kanagawa Prefecture.^[2] He is the youngest of three male brothers.^[3] He hoped to become a vehicle mechanic and enrolled in the mechanical department of Kanagawa Technical Senior High School.^[4][5] While Kubota was still in high school, his mother encouraged him to audition to enter the show business.^[3] After the audition, Kubota joined entertainment agency Stardust Promotion and became an actor.^[2][6]

In 2006, Kubota was debut starring Fuji Television's late-night television series Chekeraccho! in Tokyo.^[7] In the same year, he also made his film debut in Yuki Inomata's film Humoresque.^[7] But he often failed auditions until he was 19, and there were times when he thought about giving up acting.^[8] However, he was chosen again to be the lead actor in the television series K-tai Investigator 7 in 2008. He says his encounter with director Takashi Miike, who directed the series, was a turning point in his life.^[8]

Kubota was then gradually recognized for his acting ability and appeared in several popular Japanese national television series, including NHK Asadora and Taiga drama. In 2012, Kubota appeared in Taiga drama Taira no Kiyomori,^[9] he played Taira no Shigemori, the tragic heir to the lead role of Taira no Kiyomori.^[10] In 2014, he appeared Asadora Hanako to Anne, he became well known for playing the childhood friend of Hanako, the lead character.^[11] He then became a popular actor with appearances in popular television series Testimony of N written by Kanae Minato in 2014^[12] and Death Note in 2015.^[13][7]

Kubota starred in Takashi Miike's 2019 film First Love. The film was selected for the Directors' Fortnight at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, and Kubota attended the festival with Miike.^[14]

In 2020, he was cast as the lead in the first half of the 2020 Asadora Yell.^[15] It was the first time since Massan, which aired in the second half of 2014, that a man was the main character in asadora.^[16]

In 2021, Kubota won Newcomer of the Year of Elan d'or Awards for his work as an actor the previous year.^[17] In 2022, he won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 46th Japan Academy Film Prize for the film A Man.^[18]

Kubota and actress Asami Mizukawa's agency jointly announced that the two were engaged.^[19] They registered their marriage on 21 September 2019.^[19]