Masaki Aiba

 (born December 24, 1982) is a Japanese singer, actor, television personality, radio host and dancer. He is a member of the boy band Arashi.
Aiba began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates in 1996 at the age of 13. Prior to his debut as a singer with Arashi in 1999, Aiba started an acting career when he was cast as the lead role of Gordie for the stage play "Stand by Me", which was based on the film of the same name. About five years after his debut as a singer with Arashi in 1999, he became one of the co-hosts of the variety show in 2004, making him the first member of Arashi to regularly participate in a variety show not primarily hosted by Arashi.
Early life.
Aiba was born in Hanamigawa, Chiba as the first child of his family. He has a younger brother who is four years younger. Aiba was raised by his grandparents until he was four years old because his parents were busy running their newly opened Chinese cuisine restaurant then.
Prior to joining Johnny & Associates, Aiba watched a program called and saw SMAP playing basketball on television. Wanting to play basketball with them, he sent in the application to join the talent agency himself, without exactly knowing what the agency specialized in until the day of auditions. Aiba became a Johnny's Jr. in August 1996 at the age of .
Music career.
In collaboration with the other members, he has written the lyrics to "Fight Song" and "5x10". For his solo song "Hello Goodbye", Aiba played the harmonica portion of the song throughout Arashi's "Arashi Marks 2008 Dream-A-Live" and "Arashi Marks Arashi Around Asia 2008" concert tours. Aiba also used to play the saxophone; however, due to the collapse of one of his lungs in 2002, he was forced to stop playing due to the operation he had to undergo.
Acting career.
Stage.
Aiba began acting in a 1997 stage play based on an American coming of age film called "Stand by Me" with future bandmates Jun Matsumoto and Kazunari Ninomiya. In 2005, Aiba took up the lead role of , a naive but honest station attendant living in a world after a World War III nuclear war, in . In 2007, Aiba portrayed Adam, a shy young man with a heart defect, in . It was the first stage adaptation of the 1993 film "Untamed Heart". In early 2008, Aiba was given the lead role of Colin Briggs in the stage play called "Greenfingers", which was adapted from the movie of the same name.
Aiba reunited with director , who has been the director for his stage plays since 2005, and took on the lead role for , which ran from May 5 to 24, 2010. He portrayed a young man hovering over life and death due to a violent traffic accident.
Drama.
In 1997, Aiba made his drama debut portraying Akira, one of the many children left to survive in a city under government lockdown after a mysterious disease wipes out all the adults, in the drama . After the announcement of the formation of Arashi in September 1999 and their position as supporters for the 1999 Volleyball World Cup competition, all five members starred together for the first time in the volleyball-centered short drama "V no Arashi".
Although Aiba was featured in a number of dramas such as and , he became more known for his appearances in variety shows instead and went on to focus on stage productions after "Yankee Bokō ni Kaeru".
On August 2, 2009, it was announced that Aiba would not only act in his first drama series in nearly six years but also star as the lead actor for the first time. In "My Girl", Aiba portrayed a young man who discovers that he has a five-year-old daughter after receiving the news that his girlfriend, who he has not seen in six years, was killed in an accident.
In January 2010, Aiba co-starred with the other members of Arashi in the human suspense drama special "Saigo no Yakusoku". He portrayed , a 28-year-old coffee shop employee who is caught up in a building hijack. Starting January 2011, Aiba starred as genius bartender in the drama adaptation of the manga "Bartender". Aiba also made a guest appearance on the final episode of bandmate Ninomiya's drama , which aired on December 21, 2010.
In April 2012, Aiba once again starred in a lead role as "Katayama Yoshitaro" in the NTV drama adaption of the similarly named novel series, " Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri (三毛猫ホームズの推理).
In 2013, took the lead role as a doctor in "Last Hope".
Film.
In 2002, he made his motion picture debut in , Arashi's first movie together, as the lead character Shun. He subsequently reprised his role for the 2004 sequel .
The group once again came together in 2007 to co-star in with Aiba portraying an aspiring singer in the 1960s.
Other ventures.
Radio.
Since October 5, 2001, Aiba has his own radio show "Arashi's Aiba Masaki no Rekomen! Arashi Remix", which currently broadcasts on JOQR. On May 17, 2009, Aiba hosted a special radio program on Tokyo FM called .
Variety show host.
In 2004 Aiba became a regular part of Ken Shimura's variety show "Tensai! Shimura Dōbutsuen". With co-hosts of the show such as Tomomitsu Yamaguchi, Sayaka Aoki and Becky, Aiba interacts with various wild animals such as tigers, pandas and crocodiles in zoos both in and out of Japan, such as Singapore, South Africa, Philippines and Indonesia. After Shimura's passing on March 29, 2020, Aiba was given the lead of the show. The name will remain for the show as a tribute to Shimura. As of June 3, 2020, NTV has decided to end the broadcasting of "Tensai!" in September, stating as a reason that to continue filming on that stage, with all the memories gathered throughout almost 16 years that the show was on air, would be painfully difficult and heartbreaking. However, Aiba would continue as host of a new program with basically the same theme: the love for animals. The new show, "", started airing in October.
In 2013 Aiba began hosting a variety show "Aiba Manabu" airing in TV Asahi. Aiba enriches his knowledge about Japan along with the audience in the show.
In 2014 he also became one of the hosts for "Tokyo Live!", a special live show that aired TV Tokyo for two weeks. 5 Johnny's member alternated hosting the show every night from Mondays to Fridays wherein they try to offer advice as some audience called about their woes. Aiba was the Wednesday host. Due to popularity, the show became a regular show but lost its live format. It is currently called "Ichigen-san"
In 2016 he began hosting a sports show in NHK called "Gutto! Sports". A warm discussion with an invited athlete occurs every week.
Starting in January 2021, Aiba is to host the program "VS Damashii" (), that will substitute Arashi's signature program VS Arashi, scheduled to end in December 2020.
Music show host.
As part of Arashi, he led NHK's Kouhaku Uta Gassen's White Team from 2010 to 2014, and as himself, he was the 67th White Team Leader in 2016. He hosted Fuji TV's FNS Kayōsai, aired on December 4 and 11, 2019, together with Mezamashi TV's Yūmi Nagashima. They repeat as hosts in 2020's FNS's Summer and Winter shows.
Field navigator.
From July 18 to 19, 2009, Aiba was appointed a Field Navigator for the . He was once again a navigator on October 18, 2009 for the .
In July 2010 Aiba was a Field Navigator for the . Aiba was the official navigator for Fuji Television's coverage of the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, which was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands from October 16 to 24, 2010.