Sayaka Akimoto (秋元 才加) is a Japanese actress and singer. She was a member of Japanese idol girl group AKB48 and its spin-off unit Diva. As an actress, Akimoto has appeared in both Japanese and American productions, and made her Hollywood debut in Sniper: Assassin's End (2020). She also provides the Japanese dub for Mantis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Career

Family and early career

Akimoto was born to a Japanese father and a Filipino mother. In 2012, she ran the Tokyo Marathon for the second year in a row and donated the money to the Philippines. Her solo book of photographs is entitled Ari no Mama. On June 26, 2014, Akimoto was appointed as the Goodwill Philippine Tourism Ambassador to promote the Philippines as a tourist destination in Japan. She was also assigned as a narrator in the collaboration drama of PTV-4 and Nippon TV entitled "Halo Halo House-Jose's Nippon Diary"

2006–2013: AKB48 member

Akimoto began her career in AKB48 as one of the members of the second generation, the Original Team K. On the last day of the Budokan concert on August 23, 2009, during the first team shuffle, Akimoto was officially made captain of Team K. She resigned after a scandal in 2010 but after completing the Tokyo Marathon in 2011, she was reappointed the position. On August 24, 2012, in the Tokyo Dome1830m no Yume concert, Yuko Oshima replaced her as the captain of Team K via team shuffle. She has since been involved with sub-unit group Diva under Avex. She became a regular on the popular noon TV show Waratte Iitomo from 2010 to 2012. She was also featured as one of the members in AKB48's own anime television show alongside other members Minami Takahashi, Yuko Oshima, Tomomi Itano, Atsuko Maeda and others. On April 7, 2013, Akimoto announced on her official blog that she would not be participating in AKB48's 2013 general election, and would be graduating from AKB48 to focus on her acting. Her graduation ceremony was held on August 22 at the Tokyo Dome, and her final stage performance was held on August 28 at the AKB48 Theater, and has been streamed live by Nico Nico Namahousou.

2014–present: Solo career

In 2014, she reunited with her sub-unit group DIVA to release their final single "Discovery", an album, and a tour before disbandment. She composed and sang "Little Witch" which was the NHK 2014 Spring Campaign Theme Song. Since leaving AKB48 she has starred in four films. She has a recurring role as Bikuu in Garo which led to a solo film spin off in 2015. She sang the theme song of the film entitled "Sengetsu Hikari to Yami no Soba de". Akimoto was a co-host for Team Japan in the reality competition show Ultimate Beastmaster which was released on Netflix on February 24, 2017.

Personal life

On July 27, 2020, Akimoto married music producer and singer PUNPEE. She gave birth to their first child on October 4, 2023.

Discography

With AKB48

Singles

Singles with SKE48

Stage units

With Diva

Filmography

Films

Television dramas

Stage plays

Musicals

Other television

Japanese dub