Biography
Gakuto Oshiro (born July 4, 1973), widely known by his stage name Gackt, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor.
Gackt’s father was a music teacher, and his mother was also a teacher. He is the second of three siblings, with an older sister and a younger brother. His musical training started early, learning classical music theory and piano from the age of three. During his teenage years, after discovering rock music, he intensely practiced electric guitar and drums. In the early 1990s, he worked as a sound technician and studio drummer, and by the mid-1990s, he began his singing career. He briefly played with the independent band Cains:Feel before joining the visual kei rock band Malice Mizer. As the band’s vocalist, lyricist, and composer, Gackt helped them gain prominence within the visual kei scene. In 1999, he left the band and launched his solo career, debuting with the EP Mizérable. Since then, he has released nine studio albums, eight compilation albums, and forty-four singles. He has toured extensively across Japan, Asia, and Europe.
Spanning over 15 years, Gackt’s career includes forty-three consecutive singles ranked in the top ten on the Oricon music charts, making him the most successful male soloist in Japanese music history. A distinctive feature of his work is the use of comprehensive, conceptual, and sometimes abstract themes such as "Moon" and "Requiem et Reminiscence," which connect songs, concerts, films, books, and theatrical plays. To describe this approach, he coined the term "Visualive," combining visual, live (concert), and alive to represent the immersive experience he aims to deliver to his audience.
Beyond music, Gackt has pursued acting in film and television. He wrote and starred in his first film, Moon Child (2003), which was screened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and the 2004 Philadelphia Film Festival. In 2007, he earned a TV Navi award for best supporting actor for his role as the feudal lord Kenshin Uesugi in NHK's The Trusted Confidant (2007).
One of his notable roles was the samurai Yoshi in the 2010 film Bunraku, directed by Guy Moshe, where he starred alongside Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman, and Demi Moore. His portrayal of the unsettling eunuch Jo Teigai in NHK's drama Tempest (2011) was later adapted into the movie Gekijouban Tenpesuto 3D (2012).
Gackt’s voice acting credits include animated films like Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker (2012) and video games such as Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006) and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (2007), among others.
He made his stage play debut in Nemuri Kyoshiro Burahikae (2010) as the lead character. He further developed his theatrical work by continuing his "Moon" concept with Moon Saga - Yoshitsune Hiden (2012), which he wrote, produced, composed, and starred in. A sequel, Moon Saga - Yoshitsune Hiden - Chapter 2, was announced to begin in August 2014.
