Mone Kamishiraishi

Overview

Mone Kamishiraishi (上白石萌音, born January 27, 1998) is a Japanese actress, singer, voice actress, narrator and television personality from Kagoshima Prefecture. She is represented by Toho Entertainment and releases music on Polydor Records. Her younger sister is the actress and singer Moka Kamishiraishi. She is best known for the film Lady Maiko, the anime film Your Name, the dramas An Incurable Case of Love and the NHK morning drama Come Come Everybody, and for a solo music career that began in 2016.

Career

Early life and rise

She spent her early years in Kushikino (now Ichikikushikino) before moving to Kagoshima City in 2005. Because of her father's work, she lived in Mexico for three years from third grade, an experience she says shaped her love of music and entertainment and her appreciation for human connection. In 2011, at age 13, she won the Special Jury Prize at the 7th Toho Cinderella Audition and joined Toho Entertainment. She commuted from Kagoshima to Tokyo on weekends, and moved to Tokyo with her mother and sister when she started high school. She entered Meiji University in 2016 and graduated in March 2024, after eight years.

Acting

She first appeared on screen in a 2011 music video for HOME MADE Kazoku and made her drama debut in the final episode of the NHK taiga drama Gō in November that year. Her first commercial stage production was the 2012 musical The King and I. In 2014 she was chosen from more than 800 auditionees to lead the film Lady Maiko, winning the Newcomer of the Year award at the 38th Japan Academy Film Prize and the 26th Yamaji Fumiko Award for new actress, among others. That year she also made her stage lead debut in The Invisible Cloud, and in 2015 played Anne Shirley in the musical Anne of Green Gables.

In 2017 she starred in her first lead television drama, Hokusai and Nothing but a Meal. In 2018 she appeared on screen with her sister Moka for the first time in A Forest of Wool and Steel, playing the piano herself. She appeared in L-DK: Two Loves, Under One Roof in 2019. In 2020 her first golden prime-time lead in An Incurable Case of Love became a social phenomenon and brought her awards including the Television Drama Academy Award for Best Actress, the Elan d'or Newcomer Award and the Hashida Award for newcomers. She also took on a fully English-language drama, Home Sweet Tokyo, that year.

In the second half of 2021 she starred in the NHK morning drama Come Come Everybody, her first asadora, chosen through an audition of 3,061 applicants, and won another Television Drama Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2023 she became the youngest-ever winner of the Best Actress prize at the 30th Yomiuri Theater Awards for Spirited Away and Daddy Long Legs. In 2024 she attended the Berlin International Film Festival for the first time with All the Long Nights, and from April to August performed Chihiro in Spirited Away at the London Coliseum, her first overseas stage run, taking 67 of 135 performances. In 2025 she received the Japan Academy Film Prize for Excellence in Leading Actress for All the Long Nights, and in 2026 she won the 51st Kikuta Kazuo Theater Award for Daddy Long Legs and Spirited Away.

Music

In 2014 she released the Lady Maiko theme song as a single under her character's name, Koharu. From 2015 she released a cappella video series The Favorite Songs on YouTube and began performing live. In September 2016, accompanied on guitar by RADWIMPS' Yojiro Noda, she sang Nandemonaiya (movie ver.) in front of an audience for the first time, drawing wide attention. She debuted as a singer on October 5, 2016 with the cover mini-album chouchou, appeared on Music Station on October 14, and in December held her first paid live show and played COUNTDOWN JAPAN 16/17.

Her first one-man show, Live THEATRE chouchou, took place in February 2017, and her first original album, and..., followed on July 12. In April 2019 she moved from Pony Canyon to Universal J and sang the theme for L-DK. Her first original full album note arrived on August 26, 2020, with her first online live, i note, in September. Since July 2021 she has held the national yattokosa tour every year. On October 13, 2021 she released I'll be there / Spin, her first CD single under her own name, and on December 31 made her first appearance at the 72nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, singing Yoake o Kuchizusametara.

Natsukashii Mirai, released digitally on January 1, 2022, was chosen as the cheer song of the 100th All Japan High School Soccer Tournament. She released the album name in July 2022 and won the anan AWARD in the artist category. In January 2023 she played her first Nippon Budokan concert and also held Billboard Live shows in Tokyo and Osaka. Singles followed: Hikari no Ato / skip (October 2023), Loop (December 2023), Kaeritaku Natta yo (February 2024), Spica (April 2024) and Mabushii (October 2024). The album kibi came out on November 6, 2024, and the yattokosa Tour 2024-25 kibi, her largest ever at 11 shows in 10 cities, began on December 6 at Osaka's Festival Hall.

In May 2025 it was announced that she would write the school song for Sakurajima School, a compulsory-education school opening in Kagoshima City in April 2027. In November 2025 she released the singles 25-kome no Senshokutai and Kiseki no Yo na Koto. On February 25, 2026 she released texte, the first work of her 10th anniversary year, containing cover songs tied to screen works and original tracks. A tour followed from March 21 to April 11 in three locations, and a 10th anniversary live, bouquet, is set for September 20 and 21 at Kagoshima Arena in her hometown.

Voice acting, narration, writing and charity

She made her voice acting debut in Wolf Children in 2012 and in 2016 voiced Mitsuha Miyamizu in Your Name, winning Best Actress at the 11th Seiyu Awards. Narration work grew as a result: Tokyo's Fukei no Ashiato became her first regular narration show in April 2017, alongside her radio program good-night letter. She made her dubbing debut in Alita: Battle Angel (2019) and has been a regular MC on TBS's Sekai Kurabete Mitara since December 2020. Her first essay book, Iroiro, appeared in September 2021, followed by the translation-themed book on Anne of Green Gables in July 2022. In 2024 she did her first film narration for the documentary Kiseki no Ko, and a second essay collection, Somosomo, is scheduled for November 10, 2026.

She donated her audition prize money after the 2011 earthquake and later supported victims of the 2021 Atami landslide and the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, the latter through the Japanese Red Cross, of which she is an ambassador.

Musical style

Kamishiraishi's music is built on a clear, expressive voice honed through musical theatre and classical ballet. Raised on Sting, ABBA and Mr.Children, she names Yumi Matsutoya, aiko, Gen Hoshino, Kotringo, Ikimonogakari and Ohashi Trio among her favorites, and also enjoys Showa-era kayokyoku. She has played piano since age three and sings while playing chords, and always records barefoot. On her first original album and..., she received songs from artists she knew and wrote lyrics for three tracks herself. Her name, Mone (萌音), means sprouting sound, reflecting her parents' wish that she would love music.