Like Gackt, Moon Child was also HYDE's acting debut. HYDE was born on January 20, 1969. hyde is the lead singer of popular Jrock band, L'Arc~en~ciel. He takes on the name HYDE (in capital letters) for his solo work and hyde for his work with L'Arc~en~ciel. For the sake of consistency, I will use HYDE in this writeup since this mainly involves his solo work, unrelated to L'Arc~en~ciel.

He used to hide his profile from the public but he finally revealed his age in 2002. He has also mentioned on various magazines that he came from Wakayama. HYDE is married to Japanese celebrity, Megumi Ooishi (大石恵), and they have a son together. Other than that, all other details about his private life is unknown.

After L'Arc~en~ciel released the single, "Spirit dreams inside – another dream-," in 2001, the band went on an unofficial hiatus and the members pursued their separate solo careers. HYDE released a few singles and albums under his solo projects. It was during this time that Gackt approached HYDE for the role of Kei in Moon Child. He was convinced that Kei was perfect for the role of Kei and persuaded him to take the role. HYDE also collaborated in a duet with Gackt for one of the theme songs of Moon Child, Orenji no Taiyou [オレンジの太陽], which was released in Gackt's fourth album, Crescent.
Since his acting debut in Moon Child, he has appeared in the movie "Kagen no Tsuki" [下弦の月] in 2004. He played the male leading role, Adam, who is a guitarist in this love story based on the popular manga series by Ai Yazawa. Once again, HYDE contributed his musical skills to his movie with "Cape of Storms" from the album Roentgen, which was chosen as the theme song. The song was written fully in English.
HYDE often collaborates and releases works as theme songs for various animations, games and movies. He composed the music for the song "Glamorous Sky" for the movie Nana, another manga adaption by Ai Yazawa. The song was sung by Mika Nakashima, who played the leading role of Nana in the movie, and the lyrics were written by Ai Yazawa. He has since released more singles and albums under his solo work.
For more information about hyde and his friendship with Gackt, you can go to our Fandom guide: Chapter 8 - Friends and Acquaintaces section.

Gackt was the person who created the story in Moon Child. This movie is part of the whole concept of MOON. He helped to write the script and also wrote a novel, Moon Child Requiem, which fills in the missing gap of the character's lives when Kei left Mallepa and Son and Sho part ways.

Songs from his fourth album, Crescent, such as "Birdcage" and "Orenji no Taiyou", were used in the movie. Previously, he only used his music and concerts to tell the story of MOON, but he tried a different way with Moon Child by expressing it through motion picture. Please go to our MOON section for more details about the MOON PROJECT.

Wang Leehom is Taiwanese-American and was born in Rochester, New York on May 17, 1976. He first debuted as a singer in 1995 at the age of 19, and soon became well-known throughout Southeast Asia, mainly in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore. He was first discovered when he went back to Taiwan to visit his relatives and grandparents. Leehom was still studying in America then and he was asked to return to Taiwan to pursue a full-time singing career, but he rejected them and insisted on completing his studies first. He continued releasing singles and albums while studying at the same time. Leehom got his first big break when he released his fifth album, Revolution [公轉自轉], in 1998 after he graduated from school.

The album won him the Best Producer of the Year and Best Male Vocalist award from the Annual Golden Melody Award the following year at the age of 22. He has since won a number of awards in Asia for his unique music and was voted Favourite Artist - Taiwan at the MTV Asia Awards in 2006. He has released 14 albums, of which two are in Japanese and the rest in Mandarin. (Data as of 2007) Leehom takes an active role in his music production and also plays many musical instruments, such as piano, drums, guitar, bass, violin, erhu, etc.
His Japanese debut single "Tatta hitori no kimi e [たった一人の君へ]" was released in 2003. He has been involved in a few movies, mostly Chinese movies and the latest being "色，戒 "(Lust, Caution) by director Ang Lee. He has endorsed many products as well. Leehom is fluent in English and Mandarin. His character in this movie only speaks Mandarin and doesn't seem to know Japanese at all. Gackt and HYDE's character, in turn, speak Mandarin with him most of the time.

For more information of on Wang Leehom and his friendship with Gackt, please visit our Fandom guide: Chapter 8 - Friends and Acquaintaces section.

Japanese actor, Taro Yamamoto, was born on November 24, 1974. He first appeared on television when he was still in high school for the tv show program "Dance Koushien" [ダンス甲子園], where he and his friends appeared in swim trunks and did a unique dance. Of all the high school students who tried breaking into the entertainment industry after "Dance Koushien", Taro was the only one who became popular. He has appeared in more than 50 films and dramas, as well as some variety shows. His acting breakthrough came when he took the role of Shogo Kawada in the controversial movie Battle Royale. He can be seen most recently in the 2006 movie "Saga no Kabai-baachan" [佐賀のがばいばあちゃん].

Born on November 12, 1963 in Tokyo, Japan, Susumu Terajima has appeared in over 80 movies and a number of television drama series. He is a member of Takeshi Kitano's production company Office Kitano. He made his debut in 1986 with A-Homance [ア・ホーマンス] and appears mainly in films by Kitano. He is usually cast in supporting roles and is best known for playing either police officers or yakuza roles. Terajima was also seen in the NHK Taiga drama with Gackt, playing the role of Akabe Shimotsukenogami [赤部下野守]. His character appeared in the first episode.

Zeny Kwok was born on February 24, 1984 in Hong Kong. Zeny Kwok is not as popular as other members of the cast and there isn't much information about her available. Apart from Moon Child, she has appeared in the films Merry-Go-Round and Glass Tears, both released in 2001. She is not fluent in Mandarin and had to learn how to pronounce her lines along with the other Japanese actors.

Born on April 27, 1987 in Tokyo, Japan, Anne Suzuki (not to be confused with Anna Suzuki) started modeling at the age of three. She first appeared on television in the second season of the popular "Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo" drama series [金田一少年の事件簿]. She got her first big break in 2000 when she was cast in the movie "Snow Falling on Cedars", opposite Ethan Hawke. The movie won her the "Young Actor and Actress in a Feature Film" from Young Star Awards in the USA. Her next big role was when she appeared opposite Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武) in Returner. She took home the Best New Actor award at the 26th Japan Academy Awards the following year.

Anne has appeared in many television dramas, movies, commercials and even on the theatrical stage. Though she has only appeared in over 10 movies, she usually takes the leading role. She took the lead character, whose name was also Hana, in the movie Hana and Alice (花とアリス) in 2004 and was cast as the main female character in the movie Initial D (頭文字D ) in 2005. She can be seen most recently in the movie "Tsubaki Sanjuurou" [椿三十朗] in 2007. She is a currently pursuing a degree in a university in Japan.

Ryo Ishibashi started out as a musician. Born on July 20, 1953 in Fukuoka, Japan, Ryo joined the popular Japanese rock band A.R.B as the vocalist. However, the band didn't work out as planned and when he was in his 20s, he met director Matsuda and decided to try his hand in acting. He made his acting debut in 1986 with "A-Homanse" [ア・ホーマンス], along with newcomer Susumu Terajima.

He started taking his acting seriously after his first movie and appeared in the NHK Taiga drama "Takeda Shingen" [武田信玄], as well as various movies. In 1990, ARB disbanded, though it was reformed a few years later and an album "Real Life" was released in 1998. After ARB, Ryo began to concentrate on his acting career. His role in his first foreign movie "The Crossing Guard" [クロッシング・ガード] in 1995 earned him recognition overseas and he joined the Screen Actors Guild in America. He has appeared in several foreign movies and is now an international celebrity. Ryo is well-known for his roles in Japanese horror movies such as "Suicide Club", "Audition" and "Ju-on" (The Grudge).
He can be seen most recently in "Dream Cruise" in 2007 and has a few movies in the making. He is married to Japanese actress Mieko Harada (原田美枝子) and they have three children together.

Etsushi Toyokawa was born on March 18, 1962 (there are rumours that he was actually born in 1959) in Osaka, Japan. His dashing looks earned him many female fans and Etsushi has appeared in over 60 films and dramas. He keeps his private life very secret and often refuses interviews, making him a rather mysterious character. He won the Newcomer of the Year award in 1993 for his role in "Kira Kira Hikaru" [きらきらひかる]. He has also been nominated a few times by the Japanese Academy Awards.

n the early years of his career, he was more active in television dramas, but now he seems to focus more on making movies. He can be seen more recently in "Tsubaki Sanjuurou" [椿三十朗], along with Anne Suzuki. Apart from acting, Etsushi has also tried directing and scriptwriting. He is divorced with two children.

Japanese director Takahisa Zeze was born in Ooita, Japan in 1960. He produced his first movie in 1985 "Gyangu yo, mukou wa hareteiru ka" [ギャングよ、向こうは晴れているか] and received rave reviews. Four years later, he directed his first movie "Kagai Jyugyou, Boukou" [課外授業・暴行]. He started out making "pink films" (ピンク映画), which are adult films, in Japan and only started making movies for the general public in 1997. He has released one movie each year since 2000.

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