[article] Movie roles help J-pop stars find big success

[nmskalmn]

YUI is a singer at heart, but it is through acting that her fan base has grown.

For one thing, she pretty much plays herself - a singer - on screen. And that is no coincidence.

It is the same formula that made stars of two other J-pop newbies.

The first was Mika Nakashima, who made her acting debut in the 2001 TV drama Tainted Love Song.

She played rebellious teenager Miki, who aspires to become a singer. A month later, Mika released her debut single, Stars, a ballad that was also the theme song of the drama.

The double exposure gave her double mileage and paved the way to a million-album-selling musical journey.

Things got even better when Mika, 24, transformed into the titular punk rocker in the manga-adapted hit movie Nana in 2005.

Incidentally, Nana also marked the acting debut of US-born singer YunaIto.

She played Nana's rival Reira, a glamorous rock band vocalist.

Within four days of the movie's opening in Japan, Yuna debuted musically as 'Reira starring Yuna Ito', crooning the ballad, Endless Story.

Her identity was reportedly to be a secret at first, but it did not stop her single from rising to No2 on the Oricon chart and shifting an impressive 471,000 copies.

TOP FOUR

Yuna, 24, has since released her debut album, Heart, and is now being hailed as one of the fourmost promising J-pop queens-to-be, alongside Yui, Ayaka and Kaela Kimura.

Finally, there is Yui, who released four CDsingles before starring in the 2006 movie Midnight Sun that would catapult her to fame.

She played a musician who prowls the streets at night because she is allergic to sunlight. Yui also sang the movie's theme song, Good-bye Days.

She said appearing in the movie role helped her reach out to morepeople.

'After I finished filming, my staff told me my means of expression have become more varied.

'So I really feel that the movie has been a good influence on my musical activities,' she said.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/st...131114,00.html