Shioli Kutsuna

Shioli Kutsuna is an Australian-born actress in Japan who began her career as an idol. She was born on December 22, 1992 in Sydney. She is currently represented by Oscar Promotion.

Kutsuna, who is of both Australian and Japanese descent, spent most of her life living in Australia until she won the Judge’s Prize at the 2006 All-Japan National Young Beauty Contest. She then moved to Japan and decided to pursue a career as an idol (general entertainer) and actress.

She is fluent in both English and Japanese, having grown up speaking Japanese within her family household, and reportedly had no trouble speaking Japanese fluently when she began working as an actress. However, people sometimes point out her peculiar pronunciation on film sets.

Like many Japanese celebrities, she is a graduate of Tokyo’s Horikoshi High School.

In 2012, Kutsuna was named Best New Actress by film magazine Kinema Junpo as part of their year-end “Best Ten” lists for 2011. She also won the Sponichi Grand Prix Newcomer Award at the 66th Mainichi Film Awards for her performance in “My Back Page”.

Links: be amie, Wikipedia (jp)