In 2010, Yamada applied for the D-Boys Special Unit Audition, an audition that was to determine the fifth member of D-Boys' boy band, D-Date.[1] In August 2010, he was revealed as one of seven finalists on D-Boys' variety show, D-Boys Be Ambitious.[1] Despite not winning a spot in D-Date, Yamada won the Grand Prix award in the audition and was selected to join D-Boys' D2 division.[2] In 2011, he made his acting debut as Joe Gibken in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger[3]
On May 28, 2012, Yamada announced on his blog that he has been cast on manga adaption drama GTO in the role of Koji Fujiyoshi.[4]
In 2014, Yamada landed a leading role for the first time in the movie Live directed by Noboru Iguchi. In the same year, Yamada was also cast as Tadaomy Ando in the movie Gachiban: Ultra Max. He reprised his role in Gachiban: New Generation 2 the following year.
In 2017, Yamada made his Taiga drama acting debut in Naotora: The Lady Warlord. In addition, he also made an appearance in 14 movies within the same year. With diversity and range of roles he has taken, he become known as "Chameleon Actor".[5][6]
In 2020, he won the New Wave Award (actor category) at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival 2020.[7]
In February 2022, he received the Elan d'or Awards in Newcomer of the Year category, which is given to promising actors.[8] In July, he won first place of the women's fashion magazine "ViVi"'s popularity voting project "National Treasure Handsome Men Ranking for the First Half of 2022" in the adult category.[9] He proceeded to win in the same category in second Half of 2022, receiving the highest ranking, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.[10]
In November 2023, he won the Breakthrough Actor category in GQ Japan's Men of the Year 2023.[11] In December, he won the Yahoo! Japan Search Award 2023, ranking first in the Actor category.[12]
Personal life
His father is former professional baseball player Kazutoshi Yamada.[13] Yamada played baseball in elementary and middle school, but decided to quit when entering high school.[14]
On March 31, 2024, he announced his marriage to actress Nanase Nishino.[15]
^ ab"D-BOYSスペシャルユニット最終候補7名決定! 人気投票開催中" [Seven finalists for D-Boys' special unit decided! Popularity poll now open]. Oricon (in Japanese). 2010-08-18. Archived from the original on 2023-12-25. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
^"山田裕貴&西野七瀬、結婚を発表 連名でコメント「私達はまだまだ、人生の修行途中です」【報告全文】" [Yuki Yamada & Nanase Nishino announce marriage; joint comment: "We are still in the process of learning life."]. ORICON NEWS. 2024-03-31. Archived from the original on 2024-04-01. Retrieved 2024-03-31.