Mone Kamishiraishi

The casting that divided a family

Mone Kamishiraishi wasn't looking for the spotlight in 2011, but the spotlight found her. She was just thirteen when she entered the Toho Cinderella contest (one of Japan's most demanding talent searches), encouraged by her drama teacher. Interestingly, her younger sister Moka was also competing for the same spot.

That afternoon in 2011, Mone walked away with the Jury Special Prize. Her sister won the Grand Prize. Rather than fueling a bitter rivalry, the event put both sisters on the radar of Tokyo's film industry at a very young age.

In 2014, director Masayuki Suo was looking for a fresh face for his project Lady Maiko. He didn't want an established star but someone who could sing, dance, and act with striking naturalness. Mone beat out eight hundred candidates in a selection process that lasted months.

And the gamble paid off.

She had to learn the Kyoto dialect and train her voice for traditional Japanese singing. For this role, she received the Japan Academy Award for Best Newcomer. National critics began to take notice of this young woman from Kagoshima who spoke with a maturity unusual for her age.

The phenomenon of the invisible voice

2016 arrived, and with it the release of Your Name. Mone voiced Mitsuha Miyamizu in the animated film that grossed more than $380 million worldwide. Her voice was heard across the globe, from movie theaters in Madrid to festivals in the United States, though many people didn't know who was behind the microphone.

But she didn't want to be just a voice recorded in a studio. In 2020, she starred in the TV drama Koi wa Tsuzukuyo Dokomademo, playing a rookie nurse. The series drew massive ratings and moved Mone out of the arthouse film niche and into the homes of millions of viewers.

It was a resounding ratings success.

Audiences connected with her lack of pretense. She used that momentum to relaunch her music career with the album Note in 2020. On her records, Mone avoids excessive electronic arrangements and prefers to focus on the clarity of her voice (a trait that has become her signature technical style).

From the soundstage to London's West End

In 2022, she took on the most physically demanding challenge of her career by playing Chihiro in the stage adaptation of Spirited Away. The production, directed by John Caird, used oversized puppets and a revolving set that demanded pinpoint precision. Mone shared the role with other actresses in a double-cast system very common in major Japanese productions.

During 2024, the production moved to London for a residency at the London Coliseum. It was the first time Mone performed abroad in a fully Japanese-language production with subtitles for British audiences. Tickets sold out weeks before the premiere.

In 2024, she also premiered the film All the Long Nights, directed by Sho Miyake. In it, she plays a woman with severe premenstrual syndrome who forms a mutually supportive relationship with a co-worker suffering from panic disorder. The film avoids cheap romance and focuses instead on mental health and the workplace environment.

The London production of Spirited Away closed its run in August 2024 with a total of 135 performances scheduled. Mone Kamishiraishi returned to Japan right afterward to fulfill her music recording commitments. Her contract with the record label Pony Canyon remains in effect after more than eight years of professional partnership.