Masaharu Fukuyama

While Fukuyama can also be seen in Japanese television dramas and films, he is best known for his singing career. His 1992 breakout single "Good night" gained a wide audience because of its tie-in with the TV drama Ai wo Douda. In 1993, he made his first appearance in Kōhaku Uta Gassen, on which only successful J-pop and enka artists are invited to perform. Propelled by the success of his performance in the TV drama Under the Same Roof, in which he played Chinichan, the second older brother in the Kashiwagi family, he had his first million-selling single, "It's Only Love/Sorry Baby", in 1994. His 1995 single "Hello" became the second highest selling single that year. Fukuyama took a hiatus in 1996, stopping all his entertainment activities except his radio shows. He returned to the entertainment scene in 1998, and his first single after two years hiatus, "Heart/You", landed at number 3 on Oricon chart and sold 569,000 copies. Encouraged by this success, he began his Daikanshasai (Thanksgiving) series of concerts to show his appreciation for his fans. "Sakura Zaka" and "Niji" are among Masaharu's popular songs. His 2000 single "Sakura Zaka" sold more than 751,000 copies in its first week and remained at the top of the Japanese Oricon chart for 3 consecutive weeks; it sold about 2,299,000 copies on the Oricon charts overall. "Niji" was a theme song for the Japanese drama Water Boys. His triple A-side single "Niji/Himawari/Sore ga Subete sa", released on August 26, 2003, debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon single charts and topped them for five consecutive weeks. His has cemented his status as the best-selling male solo artist in Japan, having sold 21.27 million copies so far. In 2007, after a four-years absence from drama, Fukuyama returned to television, starring as the brilliant but eccentric physics associate professor, Manabu Yukawa, in the television drama Galileo. He won "Best Actor" at the 55th Television Drama Academy Awards for the role. He also formed a band, KOH+, with his co-star in the drama Kou Shibasaki. In 2008, NHK selected Fukuyama to portray Sakamoto Ryōma, the title character, in the 2010 year-long prime-time television Taiga drama Ryōmaden. In 2009, he held his 20th anniversary national arena tour which covered 36 performances in 12 cities over four consecutive months (June to September) with a total audience count of 500,000. Two weeks before the tour started, he held four shows at the Nippon Budokan (May 28, 29 and June 4, 5) his first ever solo concerts there, as part of his almost yearly thanksgiving concert ritual. While the Tour was still ongoing, on August 29 and 30, he went back to his hometown Nagasaki and held two open-air concerts at the Mount Inasa Park outdoor stage, with simultaneous public viewing free of charge for 50,000 Nagasaki citizens at the nearby Nagasaki Baseball Stadium (commonly known as the Big N to locals). Official figures announced a final audience count of 80,000 for the Mount Inasa concerts and Big N public viewing, in just over the two days alone. The master ringtone (Chaku Uta) download of his song "Hatsukoi" began on November 6, 2009. It sold about 150,000 downloads in five days, and, on November 13, 2009, it was announced that the song would be released as a physical CD single on December 16, 2009. The single debuted at number 1 on the Oricon weekly charts, with sales of around 151,000 copies in the first week of the release. He performed "Hatsukoi" at the 60th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen on New Year's Eve 2009, his first appearance at the event since 1993 and joined John Woo's upcoming film Manhut. On November 3, 2023, it was announced that he would voice King Magnifico in the Japanese dubbing of the Disney film Wish.

Fukuyama started his career as a radio personality in 1991. From 1992 until 2015, he presented a weekly slot on the long-running talk show All Night Nippon on Nippon Broadcasting System. His broadcasts were known for risqué jokes such as, "I am the Son of the Wank God! Phallo Maximus!!" (私はオナニーの神の子！マラ・ダンコーネ！！- a self-deprecating parody of grandiose claims made by anime heroes), and "'Standing ovation' has a naughty vibe to it, doesn't it?" Fukuyama has stated that he doesn't enjoy dirty jokes in everyday life, but considers them an essential part of the radio format. As of April 2025, Fukuyama presents regular programmes on Chiteijin Radio and Tokyo FM.

Fukuyama is the son of hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. He has been active in preserving trees that survived the bombing. Fukuyama married fellow actor Kazue Fukiishi on September 28, 2015, the same day as her birthday. He announced his marriage just after the close of stock trading to minimize the impact on stock prices, but the stock price of his agency Amuse plummeted by 500 yen (9.4%) on the 29th, the largest drop since August 2013, and his market capitalization fell by 4.1 billion yen (closing price) in one day. Many women left work early, were absent from work, or were unable to work due to housework or other reasons. This was reported as the "Fukuyama shock" and "Masha loss." The couple's first child was born on December 22, 2016. On the April 10, 2021 broadcast of his radio programme "Fuku Radio," he stated that he had been raising two rescue cats, Ore-chan and Tora-chan, for the past three years.