Born north-east of Tokyo, Haruma Miura is only 17 - but already has an impressive resume.

Miura's parents enrolled him in Tsukuba Actors' Studio as a child and he made his debut at just seven years old on the NHK television drama Aguri.

Soon after, he made his film debut in 1999's Nile, followed by school drama Mori No Gakko (2002).

While continuing to act for Japan's biggest TV networks, Miura and two other students at Tsukuba were formed into boyband Brash Brats. After Tsukuba closed down, the trio joined one of Japan's most powerful talent agencies, Amuse.

It was after Miura's role in the 2005 NHK family drama Fight that his popularity quickly grew.

He was ready to go solo and Brash Brats went on an indefinite hiatus.

TV popularity leads to larger film roles, and Miura has since appeared in a string of releases including Catch A Wave, distributed by Warner Bros Japan, Children and Toei's big-screen adaptation of Akihabara@DEEP.

'What I love about acting is that I can see everything from a different perspective and add those experiences to my own,' Miura explains.

He is not afraid of physical roles, either. For the Hawaii-based Catch A Wave, he trained for months to surf.

As is standard for a healthy acting career in Japan, Miura has continued his TV work. His role in last year's topical drama 14-Year-Old Mother (14-Sai No Haha), in which he played a boy who gets his junior high school girlfriend pregnant, gained him plaudits as a performer capable of more serious work.

'I really admire actors like Ken Watanabe, Hiroyuki Sanada and Kiichi Nakai. Seeing Watanabe and Sanada's performances as samurai in The Last Samurai had a big impact on me. I'd love to work with them one day.'

On the cusp of adulthood, Miura is set for his first feature leading role in youth romance KoiZora, produced by TBS, with a wide release through Toho this November. He is also slated to appear in major 2008 releases Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge and Naoko.

'The Pusan International Film Festival represents Asia, so it's an honour to be able to participate,' he says.

'I've heard that many important figures in the Asian film world will be there. If my presence is noticed even a little bit, I'd be very happy.'

With considerable talent and looks to match, Haruma Miura does not seem to have anything to worry about.

JASON GRAY

Contact: Amuse Inc, (81) 3 5457 3332

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

Akihabara@DEEP (2006)
Dir: Takashi Minamoto
Catch A Wave (2006)
Dir: Nobuyuki Takahashi

UPCOMING PROJECTS

KoiZora (2007),
Dir: Natsuki Imai
Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge (2008)
Dir: Takuji Kitamura
Naoko (2008)
Dir: Tomoyuki Furuyama