Yuki Uchida


Yuki Uchida is a Japanese actress and former idol singer. Following her debut in the drama Sono Toki, Heart wa Nusumareta, she received her first lead role in the 1994 drama adaption of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
Uchida became a popular teen idol and began a short-lived music career with the single "Tenca wo Torou! ", which made her the first female singer in Oricon history to have their first single debut at the summit. Uchida made her film debut starring in the 1995 adaption of Boys Over Flowers. By the late-1990s, Uchida began to shed her idol image and concentrated on her television career.
Uchida is best known as a character actress, recognized for her roles in Bambino! and Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon, which ran for seven seasons starting in 2012. She returned to the silver screen after ten years with Welcome to the Quiet Room, earning praise for her performance.

Biography

Uchida was born in Tokyo. She practiced fencing in high school, and ranked 3rd in a tournament in Tokyo in 1991.
She began her career as a model in commercials, notably for the confectionery company Lotte, then debuted in acting in 1992 in the drama Sono Toki, Heart wa Nusumareta. She became a swimsuit model for the swimwear company Unitika in 1993, and got popular as an idol, partly due to her then unusual tomboyish look with short hair and husky voice. She began to get large exposure in commercials and media, and hosted her own weekly 30mn late radio show, Yozora ni YOUKISS!, from April 1994 to March 2001 on Nippon Broadcasting.
She released her first single at the end of 1994, "TENCA wo Torou!", theme of one of her dramas, which ranked number 1 in the Oricon music charts, the first time for a solo debuting female singer, with a record of sales in this category only topped by Erika Sawajiri's debut single 12 years later. She went on a successful singing career for the next two years, her first album ranking number 1, with hits written by Tetsuya Komuro. The latter part of Uchida's music career saw a pivot from idol music as she began to write her own lyrics, before ceasing activities as a singer in the late 1990s.
She was cast in many dramas and movies, often as the lead actress, most notably in the live movies adaptations of the famous manga Hana yori dango in 1995, and Cat's Eye in 1997. She retired from show business when she married actor Hidetaka Yoshioka on November 28, 2002, but returned to acting in 2006, after her divorce in December 2005. After ten years away from the big screen, she made her comeback to cinema in 2007, in Takeshi Kitano's "Kantoku Banzai!", and in the leading role of "Welcome to the Quiet Room", movie set in a psychiatric hospital, in which she appears in all the scenes. Since 2012, she has played anesthesiologist Hiromi Jonouchi in the popular medical drama, Doctor-X Surgeon Michiko Daimon.

Filmography

Dubbing

Discography

Albums

Romaji titleJapanese titleRelease dateReferenceOricon
Junjou Karen Otome Moyou純情可憐乙女模様1995/02/08KICS-4701
Mi-CheminMi-Chemin1995/09/21KICS-5103
Merry Christmas For YouMerry Christmas For You1995/11/22KICS-53019
Ai no Baka愛のバカ1996/03/23KICS-54020
nakitakunalu泣きたくなる1996/10/10KICS-60018
PresentPresent ~内田有紀 Best Album~1997/12/03KICS-63033

Singles

Romaji titleJapanese titleRelease dateReferenceOricon
TENCA wo Torou! ~Uchida no Yabou~TENCAを取ろう~内田の野望1994/10/21KIDS-2201
Ashita wa Ashita no Kaze ga Fuku明日は明日の風が吹く1995/04/05KIDS-2403
Only YouOnly You1995/04/21KIDS-2502
Baby's Growing UpBaby's Growing Up1995/08/19KIDS-2705
Shiawase ni Naritai幸せになりたい1996/01/24KIDS-2806
Ever & Ever Ever & Ever1996/07/17KIDS-3008
Aishiteruアイシテル1997/02/21KIDS-33023
Da.i.su.kiDa.i.su.ki1997/05/21KIDS-34029
Heartbreak Sniperハートブレイク スナイパー1998/09/23KIDS-37032
Rakuen楽園1999/08/25KIDS-43028
Rakuen -Memorial Tracks- 楽園-Memorial Tracks1999/10/13KICS-76367

Others

;Concert videos
Uchida's live showYuki Uchida 1995 Concert1996
No make1996
NakitakunaluYuki Uchida Concert 19961997
Minna DA I SU KIYuki Uchida Concert Tour 19971998

;Other videos
Visual Queen of The Year '93: Yuki Uchida - La PaletteSwimsuit idol video1993
The Cat's SecretMaking of Cat's Eye1997

;Photobooks
Visual queen of the year '93with models Hiroko Tanaka, Maiko Tono, Mitsuko Aoki, Mitchiko Endo.1993
YUKISSFirst solo photobook1994
Yuki to tsuki to taiyo to有紀と月と太陽と - Second solo photobook1995
Yozora ni YOUKISS!夜空に YOUKISS! - photos, texts and poems taken from her radio show.1996
Cat's EyeCat's Eye movie photobook1997

;Radio
Romaji titleJapanese titleBroadcasterRelease date
Yozora ni YOUKISS!夜空に YOUKISS!Nippon Broadcasting1994–2001
Article 21 Radio Charity MusicSon第21回 ラジオ・チャリティー・ミュージックソンNippon Broadcasting1995
Yuki Uchida's Dusk Street Kids内田有紀の夕暮れストリートキッズSt.GIGA 1995