Masaya Kimura (singer)

Masaya Kimura (木村 柾哉) is a Japanese singer, dancer, and actor. He debuted as a member and leader of the Japanese boy band INI in 2021 after placing first in the second season of Produce 101 Japan. He made his debut as an actor in the television series I Will Be Your Bloom (2022) and made his film debut with Atashi no! (2024).

Personal life
Masaya Kimura was born on October 10, 1997, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Pre-debut
Kimura was initially influenced to learn dancing by his brother, who was a dancer. In 2013, while in high school Kimura was introduced to K-pop and was convinced by his classmates to join the school's dance club. In August 2015, he won second place in the Mr.Solo category of the National High School Dance Drill Championship 2015 and competed in the International division in Los Angeles. After graduating from high school, he studied dance for two years at Nihon Kogakuin College (日本工学院) majoring in hip hop and jazz.

Following graduation, Kimura worked as a back-up dancer and appeared in the works of lol and Seventeen in 2018 and worked alongside Ren Kawashiri of JO1 to form a dance unit. Between 2019 and 2020, Kimura worked as a dance instructor and choreographer at Noa Dance Academy, specialising in R&B and hip hop. He helped choreograph Battle Boys' "Sha na na" (2018), ChocoLate Bomb!!'s "Feedback" (2019), Party Party's "Carry on Carry on" (2019), and King & Prince's "&Love" (2020) and "Cinderella Girl" (2021).

2020–2021: Produce 101 Japan and debut in INI
In November 2020, applications for the second season of Produce 101 Japan, the Japanese spin-off of the South Korean Produce 101 franchise, opened. After being encouraged to participate by previous contestants from the first season, Kimura auditioned for the show which began airing in April 2021. The finale was broadcast on June 13, where Kimura placed first with a total of 380,796 votes. The final group was named INI and on September 4, Kimura was selected as the group's leader. After undergoing training in South Korea the group made their debut on November 3 with the single A.

Kimura created the choreography for INI's "Killing Part" alongside bandmate Hiroto Nishi, which was included in the group's debut single.

2022–present: Solo activities and acting debut
In 2022, Kimura played the role of Minato, a member of the rival group Chayney, in the TBS television series I Will Be Your Bloom which ran from October to December. Kimura played alongside bandmates Tajima, Takatsuka, Fujimaki and Matsuda, marking his acting debut.

In 2023 Kimura choreographed INI's "Moment", and "You In" from the group's single Tag Me. He was also appointed the presenter of Mezamashi TV for the month of December, appearing every week from the 7th until the 25th. Upon his first appearance, Kimura became one of the top 3 trending topics on X's (formally Twitter) Japan Trends.

On June 6, 2024, it was announced that Kimura will star in the movie Atashi no! (あたしの!), which will be released on November 8. The film is a live-action adaptation of the manga series "Atashi no!", which was published from 2017 to 2018 by Momoko Koda. Kimura will play the role of Mitomo Naomi, a popular student that caught the eyes of the two female characters.