While Yuyu Kitamura has been around since the late 2010s, Dead Boys Detectives has introduced her to a wider global audience, catapulting her career to new heights. She stars alongside George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, and Kassius Nelson in the supernatural dramedy based on DC Comics characters created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner. Released to positive reviews, the Netflix series revolves around the ghost of two dead boys who remained on earth to investigate supernatural crimes instead of moving on to the afterlife.
Yuyu Kitamura plays Niko Sasaki, a lonely student from Japan struggling to cope with the death of her father. At the same time, she is afflicted with unwanted attention engineered by supernatural forces on the verge of claiming her life. Crystal and the dead boys expel and trap the Dandelion Sprites troubling Niko in a near-death experience that leaves her able to see ghosts. Perhaps the most unique character of the series, Niko lost her life fighting an immortal witch in the final episode. Regardless, the character is expected to return for season 2 if it gets the green light.
1. Yuyu Kitamura Is A Japanese Actress Raised In Hong Kong
Like her character in Dead Boy Detectives, Yuyu Kitamura is Japanese. However, she is a third-culture kid raised in Hong Kong, where she has lived almost all her life. As a Japanese brought up in Hong Kong, the actress grew up confused about her identity. “I never felt 100% of anything. I’m Japanese, but I never felt purely Japanese because I’ve never lived there,” she told KELY Support Group.
“I’m not Chinese, but I grew up in Hong Kong. I’m not Western but I went to an international school, so I have a Western mindset. All of these parts of my identity were difficult to grasp growing up. It felt like I was never enough,” explained the actress who seems to have fully embraced her multicultural identity.
2. She Discovered Her Passion For Acting As A Child
Yuyu Kitamura has been nurturing her love for performing arts since childhood. At age 10, she was already surfing the internet, searching for the best drama schools in the world. “All I know is that from a young age, whenever I was performing and acting on stage, I was so happy,” the actress stated in an interview with Wonderland Magazine.
The international high school she attended in Hong Kong offered an art curriculum that fanned Kitamura’s passion for acting. “…The art was also something that my school really championed,” she told Wonderland Magazine. “I found that being in the arts is also very valuable, and it’s also something that people can pursue if they want to.”
3. Yuyu Kitamura Studied Acting At NYU Tisch School of the Arts
When Yuyu Kitamura surfed the internet for the best drama schools in the world, she found the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. This left her longing to attend the renowned arts school of New York University. Her dream came to pass after high school in Hong Kong. She moved to the United States and graduated from the school in 2019.
Beyond acquiring the skills to thrive as a professional performer, moving to America paved the way for Kitamura to deal with her mental health struggles. “I struggled with body image, self-harm, and depression, but it was very difficult to tell anybody. It wasn’t until I moved to New York for college that I was able to finally see a therapist and seek help,” the actress told KELY.
4. She Wrote, Directed, And Starred In 2021’s Invited In
The Niko Sasaki actress described acting as her “first and foremost passion” during an interview with Canvas Rebel. “However, I have found that I enjoy the other elements of creative work like producing and directing,” she added. Upon graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Yuyu Kitamura moved back to Hong Kong where she wrote, directed, produced, and starred in Invited In. The 2021 short drama follows Annie (Kitamura’s character) as she sets out to make her first friend after realizing she’s been lonely all her life.
5. Yuyu Kitamura Is A Published Author
The actress self-published a book titled Circles and Lines, a collection of poems about loss, love, identity crisis, and acceptance of self. Yuyu Kitamura started working on the book after a mentor challenged and encouraged her to let people read her works. It took her four years before she eventually published the book on Amazon in November 2018. When the actress announced the book, she divulged that her fondness for writing dates back to her childhood. “I remember that as a child, I would write stories and cheesy songs… I found that writing poetry helped me. It was my form of therapy,” she wrote on Instagram. Check out where you have seen the cast of Dead Boy Detectives.
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