Mariri Sugimoto was born on August 4, 2000, in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Unlike many performers whose professional training began shortly before their first public debut, Mariri entered the performance world extremely early. In 2004, at approximately four years old, she entered Actors School Hiroshima (ASH) as a member of its 12th generation and began in the school's youngest children's class.
Mariri later recalled that her parents casually asked whether she wanted to attend the school and "become a star." Although her earliest memories of the classes were vague, she remembered being surrounded by children who were already fashionable and skilled dancers while she was still learning the simplest steps. What initially began almost accidentally soon became something she genuinely enjoyed.
ASH became one of the most important foundations of her career. Over roughly seven years at the school she trained in singing, dance and live performance and learned how to present herself in a highly competitive environment. She has described one of ASH's most important lessons as learning how to stand out in a large group — not only through technical ability, but through clothing, song selection, facial expressions and the way a performer communicates an individual personality on stage.
The school also placed Mariri in the same environment as a remarkable generation of Hiroshima performers. She entered ASH before Suzuka Nakamoto, later SU-METAL of BABYMETAL, and was in the same ASH generation as Riho Sayashi, who would later join Morning Musume and, years afterward, appear as one of BABYMETAL's Avengers. Mariri has recalled that even as a child she viewed Suzuka as someone operating on a different level and came to regard her as an artistic role model.
During elementary school, Mariri began moving from training into more visible professional work. She participated in modeling and auditions and received the Semi-Grand Prix in the 2010 Cinderella Audition associated with Narumiya International. Her growing interest in fashion modeling developed alongside her singing and dance training.
One of the defining experiences of her ASH years was the self-produced four-member unit Marial (マリアル), formed with Riko Ishino, Akane Hashimoto and Ruru Dambara. Mariri later called the group one of her strongest memories from the school. The members chose songs themselves, worked on choreography and developed their performances collaboratively. Their repertoire included AKB48's "Heavy Rotation," and they appeared at local events in Hiroshima.
For Mariri, Marial represented a change in perspective. She remembered younger ASH students coming specifically to watch the group's rehearsals and realizing that she and her friends had moved from being the children who admired older performers to becoming performers admired by others. The experience strengthened her original desire to become an idol while also teaching her that she enjoyed group performance.
Her modeling career took a significant step forward around 2011. After initially working as a reader model, she became an exclusive model for Shinchosha's junior fashion magazine Nico☆Petit. Asia Promotion's official career archive lists her exclusive-model period as running from the December 2011 issue through the June 2014 issue. During that period she appeared on the magazine's cover three times.
Mariri has said that becoming a regular Nico☆Petit model broadened her view of entertainment. By then she already enjoyed idol-style singing and dancing, but modeling offered a second professional path that she began taking increasingly seriously.
In 2012, the two sides of her career — performance and modeling — came together in a major way. On May 6, 2012, Mariri joined Sakura Gakuin as a sixth-grade transfer student alongside Yunano Notsu and Saki Ooga. Her arrival is recorded in Sakura Gakuin's official history at the group's 2012 Transfer Ceremony at Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse.
Joining Sakura Gakuin also marked the end of her regular ASH period. Mariri later explained that once Sakura Gakuin was decided, she graduated from Actors School Hiroshima. For much of her Sakura Gakuin year she still traveled between Hiroshima and Tokyo, sometimes taking the first train to Tokyo and returning on the final train, or remaining away from home for extended periods. Her family later moved toward the Tokyo area around the end of her elementary-school years.
The move into Sakura Gakuin was especially meaningful because Suzuka Nakamoto, whom Mariri had admired at ASH, was then the group's Student Council President. Mariri has said that standing on the same stage as Suzuka made her feel that she had moved closer to someone she had admired for years. She also watched BABYMETAL's Heavy Music Club rehearsals and remained a fan of Suzuka's performance ability.
Mariri's Sakura Gakuin period was unusually short. She participated throughout the 2012 school year, appearing in the group's live activities and on the album Sakura Gakuin 2012 Nendo ~My Generation~, released on March 13, 2013. Unlike many Sakura Gakuin members, she did not become identified with one of the major extracurricular club units during her brief tenure; her year was largely centered on main-group activities while she continued her modeling work.
The central conflict during that period was time. Mariri was simultaneously an exclusive Nico☆Petit model, but Sakura Gakuin's intensive rehearsal and live schedule made it increasingly difficult for her to participate in magazine shoots. She later explained that she was deeply serious about becoming a top model and did not want to reach a point where she could blame Sakura Gakuin if she failed to achieve that goal.
After discussions with Sakura Gakuin staff and considerable personal hesitation, Mariri made the unusual decision to leave the group before reaching the normal junior-high graduation age.
On March 29, 2013, at The Road to Graduation I ~2012 Nendo Sakura Gakuin Houkago Anthology Live The Party~ at Shibuya CLUB QUATTRO, her departure was publicly announced. Two days later, on March 31, she graduated together with Student Council President Suzuka Nakamoto at The Road to Graduation Final ~Sakura Gakuin 2012 Nendo Graduation~ at Tokyo International Forum Hall C.
Mariri therefore holds a unique place in Sakura Gakuin history. She joined in May 2012 and left in March 2013 after only one school year, making hers the shortest membership period among the group's graduates. More importantly, she was one of the rare members who left before the normal age-based graduation point in order to pursue another professional path.
Years later, Mariri was clear that the decision had not represented a rejection of Sakura Gakuin. In a 2016 interview she described the group as her "furusato" — her professional hometown or place to return to emotionally — and said that fans who discovered her during that single year had continued supporting her afterward.
The choice to concentrate on modeling produced immediate results. Mariri remained an exclusive Nico☆Petit model until the June 2014 issue, completing a period of roughly two and a half years and three magazine covers.
In 2014, she moved into the next stage of teenage fashion modeling. She was selected through the 22nd Pichilemon Model Audition and became an exclusive Pichilemon model beginning with the August 2014 issue. Asia Promotion records her Pichilemon period as lasting from August 2014 through the magazine's final December 2015 issue, with three cover appearances.
Pichilemon gave Mariri a new platform as she moved from elementary-school fashion into the junior-high and teenage market. She participated in magazine events including Pichilemon Girls Fes in Hiroshima and other reader events. Her first Pichilemon cover came during this period, and she remained with the magazine until its publication was suspended in late 2015.
After Pichilemon ended, Mariri moved into the revived LOVE berry fashion publication in 2016. She appeared as a LOVE berry model and participated in associated events including the LOVE berry vol.4 release event and Cho Judai activities. An extensive 2016 interview with former ASH media platform LoGiRL introduced her at the time as an exclusive LOVE berry model.
That interview also revealed that even while modeling was her primary professional focus, she had never lost interest in music. Mariri said she still wanted opportunities to sing, a wish that would become particularly important many years later.
Her original relationship with Amuse concluded in 2016. By 2017 she had begun a new phase of her career and in October 2017 announced her affiliation with Asia Promotion, the agency that continues to represent her as of 2026. The agency currently categorizes her across three professional fields: model, actor and talent.
The change of agency coincided with a broader expansion beyond fashion modeling. In February 2017, Mariri appeared in the film Kizudarake no Akuma (Demon Covered in Scars), playing Chiharu Kamiya. The role represented an important step in the acting direction she had said she wanted to pursue while still a teenager.
During 2017 she also appeared in ABEMA's romance reality series Kyou, Suki ni Narimashita (Today, I Fell in Love), bringing her to a different young television audience. In early 2018 she appeared in Y!mobile's web drama Koi no Hajimari wa Houkago no Chime kara.
In 2018, Mariri entered another important visual-media chapter when she participated in Weekly Young Jump's Seikore 18 project. She appeared on the magazine and was ultimately chosen as one of the selected members. The project marked her first significant gravure work and broadened the type of modeling she was willing to pursue beyond conventional fashion magazines.
That year she also walked at Rakuten GirlsAward 2018 Spring/Summer and continued appearing in Cho Judai events. Her screen work included the September 2018 theatrical project Gekijouban Hontou ni Atta Kowai Hanashi 2018.
Mariri continued balancing modeling, acting and education through the late 2010s and early 2020s. Stage performance increasingly became another part of her career. Her stage credits include Tagamaru Joden in 2017, the musical TOP'S & BOTTOM'S in 2018, Hoshi no Mita Yume in 2019, Yokubou no Machi Not Satisfied in 2019, and later a series of theatrical and reading-play appearances.
Her theater work became particularly active during 2020 and 2021, including 13-gatsu no Onnanoko, the reading play Kanojo no Aishita Toshi Densetsu, the online reading performance Hazakura to Mateki, GO,JET!GO!GO! vol.13, Casket ~Shinkai kara Mieru Hoshi~, and Bokura no Shinya Kosoku. These projects allowed her to keep developing acting and live-stage skills while entertainment production was operating under pandemic-era restrictions.
In August 2020, Mariri returned to Weekly Young Jump, demonstrating that her Seikore connection had remained relevant after the 2018 project. However, the most significant expansion of her gravure career came in 2022.
From spring 2022 onward, Mariri began appearing much more regularly in gravure publications. Asia Promotion's archive records appearances in FLASH, Weekly Playboy, BUBKA, BLT and DOLCE during 2022. Weekly Playboy published the digital photo collection RELAX in August, while FLASH released Yatto Mitsuketa. and other publishers followed with additional digital collections.
In an August 2022 Weekly Playboy interview, Mariri explained that her interest in gravure had originally begun with Seikore 18. She said the photography felt different from fashion modeling and that being selected had given her confidence. The interview also showed how her public identity had changed from the extremely slim junior-fashion model of her school years into an adult performer who was comfortable treating gravure as another form of visual expression.
Her 2022 acting work included stage productions such as Ojou no Bimyou na Bouken and Reiwa Rakugo. In December she appeared as Ayumi Ishikawa in the Paravi original drama Gilgamesh FIGHT, a fictionalized drama inspired by the production environment surrounding the famous late-night television program Gilgamesh Night.
The year 2023 was one of the busiest periods of her gravure career. She appeared in Young Gangan, Weekly Young Jump, Weekly Playboy, Manga Action, BOMB and EX Taishu, among other publications. Several digital photo collections were released, including Shueisha's Kimi wo Suki ni Nattemo Ii Desu ka?, Ima Dakara Koso, Futabasha's Next Level, and the Mizuiro Emotion project.
On March 24, 2023, Mariri announced that she had graduated from university after four years of study. She thanked her parents, friends, manager and supporters and joked that she had lost her "female university student" brand. Her university years had overlapped with professional acting, modeling, stage work and the revival of her gravure activities.
She continued acting in 2023. On October 6, she appeared in the film Sayonara Monotone, and in November she starred as Kaori Saionji in the RANKU TV Channel drama Koi wa Mamanaranai. Her agency also records television reenactment work, live-streaming programs and major event appearances such as WATERBOMB JAPAN TOUR and NAGOYA FASHION FESTA.
The year 2024 added several new professional identities. In April, Mariri was selected as one of the Krush Girls 2024, the official round-girl unit for K-1 Japan Group's Krush kickboxing events. She made her first appearance with the group at Krush.160 and spent the year attending events at Korakuen Hall and other venues. She also served as a guest commentator at Krush.168 in Nagoya.
Mariri later described the role as an opportunity to discover combat sports from close range. She returned for a second consecutive year as a member of Krush Girls 2025, making the position one of her most visible recurring non-acting activities.
Her 2024 entertainment work remained varied. She appeared in the stage production Painting Burlesque ~Tenshi ga Ita Basho~, made a guest appearance in episode four of TV Asahi's Densetsu no Head Sho, and took part in the improvised youth film Isolation, playing Kaori Soma. The film was created without a conventional fixed script, with performers developing the story through improvisation, and screened at Euro Live in Shibuya in October 2024.
Gravure also continued through publications including FLASH, Weekly Post, EXMAX and Weekly Jitsuwa, while her first trading-card collection was released in March 2024.
The most important change in Mariri's career in 2024, however, was her return to regular group music.
In the summer of 2024, former BiS member Aya Eightprince led an audition to create a new girls' rock group called LUCY. Approximately 1,000 people applied. Mariri entered the audition herself rather than being recruited directly and was selected as one of the members.
Within LUCY, she adopted the member name MARIRIN / マリリン. She later explained that she had wanted to sing onstage again for years. She had considered solo music, but felt that returning to a group was a more natural route. Joining LUCY therefore represented a deliberate return to the kind of singing-and-dancing group activity she had not experienced regularly since Sakura Gakuin twelve years earlier.
LUCY was publicly unveiled on September 21, 2024 at NAKAYOSHI FES. 2024. The original lineup brought together members with varied backgrounds in idol music, modeling and entertainment, including Aya Eightprince, Mariri, former MIGMA SHELTER members and other experienced and new performers.
The group described its concept as beginning "new rock" again from the emotional power that music had played in the members' lives. Its early material included "Ancestors" and "LUCID DREAM," which were released in the pre-debut EP Pre-sent.
On January 10, 2025, LUCY held its official debut one-man concert GET UP LUCY IN LUCID DREAM at Spotify O-EAST in Shibuya. The group performed a full live set with a band, marking Mariri's first sustained return to idol/group performance since her elementary-school years.
In an April 2025 Weekly Playboy interview, Mariri described the physical shock of returning to group activity after twelve years, joking that performing even one complete song reminded her how demanding singing and dancing onstage could be. At the same time, she made clear that the return was something she had actively wanted. She said she loved singing and had continuously wanted to stand onstage again.
LUCY became one part of a particularly busy 2025. Mariri continued gravure work, appearing in Weekly Playboy and releasing the digital photo collection Kabin no Yuuwaku. She also remained a Krush Girl for the 2025 season and continued individual streaming, including gaming and singing content that she produced with her own recording and computer setup.
Her television work included BS10's travel program Mark Panther no Chikyuu wo Kanjiru! Globe Tabi ~Guro Tabi~, in which she participated in the program's early 2025 episodes, and BS Fuji's Yona Yona Project in November. She also appeared in Fuji TV's Watashi wa Seikei Bijin in January 2025 as Fumika Kawai.
LUCY continued releasing music and performing throughout 2025. Mariri remained publicly identified as both a LUCY member and an individual model/gravure performer. She also participated in events including TOKYO GRAVURE IDOL FESTIVAL 2025.
At the end of 2025, Mariri announced another major transition. On December 26, LUCY officially stated that she would temporarily suspend her group activities following the January 18, 2026 Hiroshima date of the "Nice to meet you, We are LUCY!" tour. The announcement emphasized that this was a hiatus rather than a departure and said that Mariri had decided to create time for a new challenge while considering her future.
Her final LUCY performance before the hiatus took place on January 18, 2026 at Hiroshima ALMIGHTY, giving the pause a symbolic connection to the city where her entertainment career had begun more than twenty years earlier.
Soon afterward, one of the most substantial stage roles of her career became public. Mariri was cast as Makoto Kino / Super Sailor Jupiter in Team Silver Moon of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon -Shining Theater Shinagawa Tokyo-. The long-running theatrical project began performances on April 7, 2026 at Club eX in Shinagawa Prince Hotel.
The role combines several areas in which Mariri had trained throughout her life: acting, singing, choreography and live performance. As Sailor Jupiter, she became part of Team Silver Moon alongside performers portraying Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus and the other Sailor Guardians.
Shining Theater Shinagawa Tokyo is not a conventional short theatrical run. The production was designed as an ongoing immersive entertainment experience with rotating Team Gold Moon and Team Silver Moon casts, placing Mariri in a recurring major franchise role rather than a single limited production.
Mariri remained professionally active outside LUCY during the group's hiatus. Asia Promotion continued listing her as a model, actress and talent, and she continued catalog work including NURSERY Vol.93 in 2026.
On August 11, 2026, a special event titled Sugimoto Mariri Seitansai 2026 ~PrincessMariri~ was held at Ikebukuro Live House mono. Significantly, the event was promoted through LUCY's official website even though Mariri had not formally resumed normal LUCY group activities. The group's current site also continues to list MARIRIN among LUCY's members.
As of August 2026, there has been no official announcement that Mariri has permanently left LUCY, nor has there been a formal announcement ending her temporary group hiatus. The most accurate description is therefore that she remains associated with LUCY but is temporarily inactive in normal group activities while pursuing individual work.
Her Sailor Moon activities also brought her back to a large festival environment. On August 29, 2026, Mariri appeared as Super Sailor Jupiter with Team Silver Moon at @JAM EXPO 2026 supported by UP-T at Yokohama Arena. The official Sailor Moon account confirmed the team's performance, which included songs such as "Moonlight Densetsu" and "Brilliant Justice."
This appearance created an interesting full-circle moment in Mariri's career. More than a decade after leaving Sakura Gakuin in order to focus on modeling, she was once again performing singing-and-dancing material at one of Japan's major idol and pop-culture festivals — this time as an actress in one of the country's most recognizable entertainment franchises.
As of August 29, 2026, Mariri remains signed to Asia Promotion and active across modeling, acting and live performance. Her current central project is Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon -Shining Theater Shinagawa Tokyo-, while LUCY continues to list her as MARIRIN during her temporary group hiatus.
Her career is unusually difficult to summarize through a single occupation. She has moved repeatedly between model, idol, singer, actress, gravure performer, stage actor, streamer and television personality. That versatility is not a late-career development: it can be traced directly back to her childhood years at Actors School Hiroshima, where she learned to combine singing, dancing and self-presentation while simultaneously beginning a serious fashion-modeling career.
Mariri's Sakura Gakuin history is brief in duration but important in context. She spent only one school year in the group, yet she has repeatedly described Sakura Gakuin as a professional home and continued to be identified with it many years later. Her 2024 decision to audition for LUCY was, in a sense, a return to an ambition she had expressed as far back as her ASH and Sakura Gakuin years: to stand onstage as part of a singing group while maintaining a career that also includes modeling and acting.