24-Year-Old Actor Found Dead After Going Missing: Family Confirms Discovery and Identification of Mizuki Itagaki’s Body

Japanese actor and singer Mizuki Itagaki has been found dead at the age of 24 after he was reported missing in January.

The Solomon’s Perjury actor’s family shared the heartbreaking news in a Thursday, April 17 post to Mizuki’s Instagram Story that the actor “passed away due to an unfortunate incident.”

“We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the fans who warmly supported Mizuki Itagaki during his life, and the staff and individuals who took care of him in his work,” the statement read in part. “He had been missing since the end of January this year due to a mental illness he had been suffering from since last year. We continued to search for him with the help of the police and friends, and recently received a message from the police that his body had been found in Tokyo.”

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Although a cause of death was not disclosed, TBS News Dig reported that there were no visible injuries on Mizuki’s body, which was discovered in March, and foul play is not suspected. It is believed he died in early February. Further information isn’t available at this time.

Mizuki path to stardom began at the age of 10 when he was scouted by the prestigious Japanese talent agency Stardust Promotion while shopping with his mother. He went on to join the boy band M!LK, a part of the agency’s male musical collective Ebidan, when he was just 11. He performed with the group from 2014 to 2020, per The Straits Times.

Outside of his musical career, Mizuki was also a well-known actor. He made his acting debut in the 2014 movie Dark Gold Ushima-kun Part 2 and went on to portray Kazuhiko Kambara in Solomon’s Perjury the following year. His other credits include Ushijima the Loan Shark Part 2, Blue Spring Ride, Hibiki, Hot Gimmick: Girl Meets Boy, and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, among others. His final acting credit was in the TV series Black Girl’s Talk, per his IMDb profile.

The actor stepped away from the entertainment industry last year and departed from his management agency Stardust Promotion. He explained in a November 2024 social media post that he was in an “extremely volatile state emotionally” in January 2024 “due to various stresses and pressures,” resulting in “insomnia and anorexia.” As his mental and emotional state continued to worsen, he said he realized that it became “difficult for me to appear in public as an actor.”

According to his family, Mizuki was “beginning to take steps towards returning to show business” prior to his passing. The statement added, “We hope you’ll continue to remember Mizuki and the work he did with warmth in your hearts.”