List of Famous people born in Ōsaka Prefecture, Japan
Hōka Kinoshita
Houka Kinoshita is a Japanese actor who is represented by the talent agency, Cast Power. He graduated from Osaka Prefectual Nozaki High School and Osaka University of Arts.
Yasuko Sawaguchi
Yasuko Sawaguchi is a Japanese actress.
Tomoka Kurotani
Kurotani Tomoka is a Japanese actress. She starred as the femme fatale female ninja Kagero in Shinobi Heart Under Blade.
Ai Otsuka
Ai Otsuka is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. She is a popular artist on the Avex Trax label and is best known for her 2003 hit "Sakuranbo", which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 103 weeks.
Ryo Nishikido
Ryo Nishikido is a Japanese singer and actor. He was formerly under the management of Johnny & Associates as a member of Japanese boy bands Kanjani Eight and News. His first solo album was released in December 2019.
Youmi Kimura
Youmi Kimura is a Japanese singer and lyre performer. She was born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, and became famous in 2001 for her song "Itsumo nando demo", which served as the closing theme to the popular 2001 anime film Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki.
Tadayoshi Okura
Tadayoshi Okura is a Japanese singer, actor, voice actor and radio host. He is also a member and the drummer of Japanese male idol group Kanjani Eight, which is under the management of Johnny & Associates. His image color in the group is green.
Eri Tokunaga
Eri Tokunaga is a Japanese actress.
Kenta Maeda
Kenta Maeda is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Dodgers and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. He won the 2010 Eiji Sawamura Award with a record of 15–8 and a 2.21 ERA, with 174 strikeouts in 215 and 2/3 innings, and six complete games with two shutouts. He also became the youngest pitcher in Japanese baseball history to achieve the pitching Triple Crown in the same year. He won the Sawamura Award for the second time in 2015.
Hideo Nomo
Hideo Nomo is a retired Japanese baseball pitcher who played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He achieved early success in his native country, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1990 to 1994. He then exploited a loophole to free himself from his contract, and became the first Japanese major leaguer to permanently relocate to MLB in the United States, debuting with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995. Although he was not the first Japanese player in American professional baseball, Nomo is often credited with opening the door for Japanese players in MLB, due to his star status.