Mana Ashida

When three-years old Nishinomiya (known for its baseball affinity and stadium), Hyogo Prefecture-born Mana's mother thought her becoming an actress would be fun and guided her into the vocation. That was 2007. Her first role came about in 2009. She was in the serial Mother on Nippon Television Network Corporation in 2010. The director was looking for a seven-year old and was reluctant to audition a five-year old, but things changed when they met and the director adjusted the script to suit the younger girl. She appeared in a historical drama in 2011. She was given the lead role in the serial Sayonara Bokutachi No Youchien ('Good-bye Our Kindergarten') in 2011, which made her at age six the youngest lead actress in Japanese TV history. She appeared in Marumo No Okite ('Marumo's Rule') and also sang the serial's theme song, Maru Maru Mori Mori. It sold enough to be a Top 10 hit. She next became one of the winners of the Rookie Of The Year Award at the 34th Japan Academy Awards for her work in the movie Ghost. She also branched out into voice-over for foreign films' dub into Japanese. She furthermore became the youngest person to win Japan's Blue Ribbon Award. She was the host for the talk-show Meringue No Kimochi in 2011 thus becoming the youngest talk or variety show hostess ever in Japan. She signed with Universal Music and debuted a single and an album and was in the Hollywood movie Pacific Rim by 2013. However, before that she supported her music career by giving concerts in 2012. She had earlier become the winner of Celebrity Kids Edition of the Japanese version of the contest Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. She is an avid reader and rides a unicycle. It is said that she could read by age four and would read sixty books a month beginning from kindergarten. Her fans call her Manachan. She is represented by JobbyKids agency.