Nakajima Kento

 (中島健人) is a male singer, actor, talent, and idol from Tokyo. He is affiliated with Johnny & Associates and is the leader of Sexy Zone. His member color is blue.

History

 * He sent his resume, took an audition, and joined Johnny's Office in April 2008 when he was in his third year of junior high school.
 * In October 2008, he made his first appearance in a drama series in the NTV drama Scrap Teacher, playing the role of Minobe Kento. He also started activities as B.I.Shadow, a unit formed by three Johnny's Jr. who appeared in the same drama.
 * On June 4, 2009, Nakayama Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow was formed and their CD debut was announced, and on June 7, NYC boys was formed with the addition of Yamada Ryosuke and Chinen Yuri. They were appointed as a special supporter of Women's Volleyball World Grand Prix 2009.
 * On July 15, 2009, Nakayama Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow and a member of NYC boys made their CD debut with the double A-side single "Akuma na Koi / NYC". On New Year's Eve of that year, Nakajima participated in the 60th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen for the first time as a member of NYC Boys.
 * On September 29, 2011, along with the formation of Sexy Zone, their CD debut was announced, and their debut single "Sexy Zone" was released on November 16.
 * On February 27, 2012, he announced that he had passed the AO entrance examination for the Department of Sociology, Meiji Gakuin University, and entered the university.
 * On April 6, 2013, he starred in a serial drama for the first time in the NTV serial drama Bad Boys J, playing the role of Kiriki Tsukasa. On November 9, he starred in a movie for the first time in the Bad Boys J The Movie.
 * From July 2013, the love situation variety show JMK Kento Nakajima Love Holiday Prince, which was his first show, was broadcast for a total of 11 episodes.
 * On March 7, 2014, the movie Silver Spoon starring him as the lead role was released.
 * In August 2015, he performed his first solo concert in "Sexy Zone A.B.C-Z Summer Paradise in TDC".
 * On February 27, 2016, the movie Kurosaki kun no Iinari ni Nante Naranai starring him as the lead role was released. It became a hit that surpassed 1 million spectators.
 * In March 2017, he graduated from Meiji Gakuin University, Faculty of Sociology. When he graduated, his photo and interview article were featured in the university's Asahi Shimbun full-page advertisement with the title "The Place that Expanded My Possibilities". He was featured in Meiji Gakuin University's full-page advertisement in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019.
 * In October 2018, he starred as the lead role in a golden prime serial drama for the first time in the NTV drama Cops 'n Robbers.
 * In March 2020, he served as the MC of a music program for the first time with Hirano Sho from King & Prince on the "NTV Music Festival: Premium Music 2020". In June of the same year, they co-starred in the same drama series Detective Novice on NTV.
 * On May 28, 2021, he opened an official Instagram account under the name of Hasebe Sosuke, whom he played in the drama She Was Pretty on Fuji TV.
 * On October 10, 2022, he was announced to be appearing as a main cast member in the major international drama Concordia, which is directed by Emmy Award-winning Frank Dolzier as showrunner and executive producer, and will be filmed in Italy. He made his long-awaited debut in a foreign drama.

Discography

 * See also: Sexy Zone Discography

Recorded solo songs

 * [2012.11.14] "Teleportation" from the album one Sexy Zone
 * [2013.10.09] "CANDY 〜Can U be my BABY〜" from the single "Bye Bye Dubai 〜See you again〜 / A MY GIRL FRIEND"
 * [2014.10.01] "Love Kaze" (Love風; Love Breeze) from the single "Otoko never give up"
 * [2015.03.11] "Black Cinderella" from the album Sexy Power3
 * [2015.03.11] "Dear High Heel" (ディア ハイヒール) from the album Sexy Power3
 * [2015.07.01] "Kare Kano!!" (カレカノ!!; Him and Her) from the single "Cha-Cha-Cha Champion"
 * [2015.12.16] "Forever L" from the single "Colorful Eyes"
 * [2016.02.24] "Mr. Jealousy" from the album Welcome to Sexy Zone
 * [2016.11.16] "Hey!! Summer Honey" from the album Sexy Zone 5th Anniversary Best
 * [2017.09.06] "Mission" from the DVD & Blu-ray Sexy Zone Presents Sexy Tour 2017〜STAGE
 * [2019.03.13] "Because of Ai" (Because of 愛; Because of Love) from the album PAGES
 * [2020.02.05] "SHE IS...LOVE" from the album POP×STEP!?
 * [2023.06.07] "ROSSO" from the album Chapter II

Unrecorded solo songs

 * "Eien no Merry-Go-Round" (永遠のメリーゴーランド; Eternal Merry-Go-Round)

Recorded unit songs

 * [2018.02.14] "Luv Manifesto" from the album XYZ=repainting (with Marius Yo and Matsushima So)

Concerts

 * Sexy Zone A.B.C-Z Summer Paradise in TDC "Love Ken TV" on August 7-10, 2015 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall
 * Summer Paradise 2016 "#Honey♡Butterfly" on August 3-5 and 23-25, 2016 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall
 * Summer Paradise 2017 "Mission: K" on July 29 - August 2, 2017 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall

Trivia

 * He became interested in Johnny's for the first time after he heard Shuji and Akira's "Seishun Amigo" when he was in the 6th grade of elementary school.
 * He admires Yamada Ryosuke from Hey! Say! JUMP.
 * He won first place in the "17th Your Choice Jr. Award", a voting project of the magazine Myojo in 2011. He took first place for the second year in a row in 2012.
 * He had such a confident prince character that even the other Johnny's talents blushed and everyone was impressed and said, "He's amazing". His signature line is "Sexy Thank You". He first used it during an interview in 2013, and only the office president, Johnny Kitagawa, laughed at him, which led him to keep saying it. It has become so popular that it is even used when other celebrities pretend to be Nakajima.
 * He started learning piano when he was in the second grade at the recommendation of his parents. At the audition for Johnny's Entertainment, he was asked to play the piano by Johnny Kitagawa and he immediately played "The Moldau". He was told, "If you practice, you'll get better", and he was chosen to join Johnny's. He played a medley of "Sexy Zone", "Lion Heart" and "Hitoribocchi no Toothbrush" on piano at the Sexy Zone concert in February 2012. He also showed a piano performance in the movies Kurosaki kun no Iinari ni Nante Naranai, The Anthem of the Heart, and Castle of Sand.
 * His name "Kento" was taken from Clark Kent, the main character in the movie Superman. Influenced by his parents who loved Western movies, he himself loves movies to the point where he sometimes goes to the theater and watches three movies a day. He appeared as a special guest on WOWOW's live broadcast of the 95th Academy Awards, a film festival held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, USA in 2020. With his fluent English and passion for movies, he successfully interviewed Hollywood stars such as Bong Joon-ho, who won Best Director, and Renee Zellweger, who won Best Actress. Since January 16, 2021, Nakajima has taken on the role of sole MC in the film information program Things Nakajima Kento Wants to Know About Movies Now. on WOWOW. He conducted interviews in English with famous directors such as Christopher Nolan, Chloe Zhao and Koreeda Hirokazu.
 * He mentioned Sakai Izumi of ZARD as his ideal woman. He listed "Iki mo Dekinai" as the song he would like women to sing at karaoke.