is a Japanese actress, singer, and former first generation member of the

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, created as the "official rival" of the group AKB48. They are the first group from the Sakamichi Series, which also includes sister groups Sakurazaka46 (formerly Keyakizaka46), Yoshim ...

. In addition to her work with Nogizaka46, Ikuta has appeared in multiple television and stage productions, including playing

Cosette Cosette () is a fictional character in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo and in the many adaptations of the story for stage, film, and television. Her birth name, Euphrasie, is only mentioned briefly. As the orphaned child of an ...

Éponine Éponine Thénardier (; ), also referred to as "Ponine", the "Jondrette girl" and the "young working-man", is a fictional character in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo. The character is introduced as a spoiled and pampered child, ...

and

Fantine Fantine (French pronunciation: ) is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. She is a young ''Grisette (person), grisette'' in Paris who is impregnated by a rich student. After he abandons her, she is forced to look ...

in a Japanese production of ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'' and voicing

Asha ''Asha'' () or ''arta'' (; ) is a Zoroastrian concept with a complex and highly nuanced range of meaning. It is commonly summarized in accord with its contextual implications of 'truth' and 'right' (or 'righteousness'), 'order' and 'right wor ...

in the Japanese dubbing of the Disney film ''Wish''. She is affiliated with

Ohta Production , sometimes shortened to Ohta Pro, is a Japanese talent agency headquartered in Yotsuya, Shinjuku, Tokyo. It was founded in 1963 and focuses on talent management for actors, athletes, comedians and '. The agency have produced numerous television ...

from 2007 to 2009 and once again since 2022.

Early life and career

Ikuta was born on January 22, 1997, in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She began taking piano lessons at the age of four under the influence of her older sister, who had taken them before her. Her family moved to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

when she was five. She made her entertainment debut as a child actress in 2007, starring in the musical ''Coco Smile: Asu e no Rock 'n' Roll.'' She was affiliated with Ohta Production during that time. In 2011, she auditioned for Nogizaka46 and was selected as one of the thirty-six first generation members. Her audition song was Aiko's "Star". She was chosen as one of the members performing on the group's debut single "

Guruguru Curtain is the debut single by Japanese girl group Nogizaka46, released on February 22, 2012. It reached number two in the Oricon Weekly Chart and sold 136,309 copies in the first week. It reached number three on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. Release ...

", released on February 22, 2012. In September 2012, she was selected for the leading role of Alice in Nogizaka46's stage musical ''Sixteen Principal''. On April 20, 2014, she announced that she would take a break from Nogizaka46 to prepare for further schooling. She resumed her activities in August as the choreographic center for Nogizaka46's tenth single "

Nandome no Aozora ka? is the 10th single by Japanese idol girl group Nogizaka46. It was released on October 8, 2014. It debuted in number one on the weekly Oricon Singles Chart and, as of October 20, 2014 (issue date), has sold 478,888 copies. It also reached numbe ...

". In 2015, Ikuta appeared in the

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

drama ''Zannen na Otto'' as a high school girl who dreams of becoming a pianist. She published her first solo photobook, ''Tenchō'', on January 21, 2016. It sold 38,355 copies in its first week, and ranked first on the Oricon weekly photobook sales chart. It also ranked first on the Oricon book ranking photobook category in the first half of the year 2016. In July 2016, it was announced that Ikuta had been chosen for the role of

in a 30th anniversary production of ''

Les Miserables LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental ...

'' in Japan in 2017, a role she reprised in 2019. In early 2021, It was announced that Ikuta would play

in ''

'' in spring till autumn 2021. In 2024, it was announced that Ikuta would play

in ''

'' from late December 2024 till mid June 2025. She is also the second actress in Japan to play both Cosette, Éponine and Fantine in ''

'',

Rina Chinen , is a Japanese entertainer, former singer, and musical theater actress. She is affiliated with Rising Production. History Rina Chinen took lessons as a child from the Okinawa Actors School. By the time she reached junior high, she relocated to O ...

was the first actress to do so. In January 2021, she and fellow Nogizaka46 member Sayuri Matsumura performed a cover of the song "1・2・3" by

Mafumafu is a Japanese singer-songwriter. In addition to his solo work, he is one half of the music duo After the Rain with fellow ''utaite'' singer Soraru. His broad vocal range, spanning over five octaves, allows him to sing in an extremely high reg ...

and Soraru; the song was used as an opening theme to the anime series '' Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series''. On October 25, Ikuta announced she will graduate from Nogizaka46 on December 31, 2021 on her official blog. Her graduation concert took place at the

Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...

on December 14 and 15. She sang and performed on the stage of the 72nd NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen on December 31, and it was her last activity as a member of Nogizaka46. On January 5, 2022, five days after her graduation from Nogizaka46, Ikuta announced her return to her talent agency during her days as a child actress, Ohta Production. On January 8, her official Twitter account was opened. On February 1, her official website was opened (with a fan event on 19 to commemorate the occasion), while her Nogizaka46 blog posts were deleted. Ikuta's first post-Nogizaka46 acting role was as Mio Mukai in the

series ''Gossip: #Kanojo ga Shiritai Honto no 〇〇''. Her second fan event, "Erika Ikuta 2022 summer fun", was held on August 3, 2022 at Zepp DiverCity and August 6 at Zepp Namba. On November 1, 2022, her first calendar was released. It was available to the members of her official website until December 31. Her third fan event, "Erika Ikuta 2022 winter fun", was held on December 3, 2022 at Zepp Osaka Bayside and on December 11 at

KT Zepp Yokohama The Zepp music halls are a group of Japanese music venues covering every area of the country. They play host to many international tours and are a popular stop among Japanese musicians. Each venue takes the Zepp name, along with the city in whic ...

. Her first solo tour, "Erika Ikuta Autumn Live Tour 2023", ran from September 10 to 17, 2023, spanning Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka and Aichi. A final leg of the tour was held on October 5 at the

Tokyo International Forum The is a multi-purpose exhibition center in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. The complex is generally considered to be in the Yūrakuchō business district, being adjacent to Yūrakuchō Station, but it is administratively in the Marunouchi district. Toky ...

. On October 13, it was announced that Ikuta will be the Japanese voice of

in the Japanese dubbing of the Disney film ''Wish''. On January 22, 2024, the day of her 27th birthday, Ikuta announced that she will be making her solo singer debut under

Gr8! Records , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

with the release of her first

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, "capriccioso", on April 10. She also opened her official

YouTube channel YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San B ...

that day. On May 15, 2024, it was announced that Ikuta will star in her first lead role in a public TV drama, '' Subarashiki Kana, Sensei!.''

Discography

Solo singles

Lead singer

Singles with Nogizaka46

Albums with Nogizaka46

Other featured songs

Filmography

Television

Films

Japanese dub

Theater

Concerts

* 2017: ''MTV Unplugged: Erika Ikuta''

Bibliography

Photobooks

* ''Kikan Nogizaka vol.4 Saitō'' (26 December 2014, Tokyo News Service). . * ''Tenchō=Modulation Erika Ikuta 1st Photo Book'' (21 January 2016,

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

). . *''Erika Ikuta Nogizaka46 Graduation Memorial Book: Kanon'' (14 December 2021,

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

). .

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ikuta, Erika Nogizaka46 members 1997 births Living people Japanese idols 21st-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese pianists Japanese women pop singers Japanese pianists Singers from Tokyo Gr8! Records artists