Rena Katō

I've got a soft spot for idols who quietly become lifers, and Rena Katō reads like one of those to me. A Chiba kid born in '97, she spent twelve years inside the AKB48 machine while also dipping into acting, and honestly that double duty tells you something about her temperament. By the end she wasn't the wide-eyed newcomer anymore, she was the steady veteran who'd logged the reps, and in 2022 she stepped away to start a new career as a hairdresser. What I like is the switch I imagine her pulling off: the megawatt idol grin one minute, then a small flicker of a real expression in a scene the next. That range, the ability to flip between sparkle and stillness, is the underrated stuff. I'll always root for the ones who just keep showing up and doing the work.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Rena Katō is a Japanese hairdresser and former idol and actress born on July 10, 1997, in Chiba Prefecture. Standing 160 cm tall, she was a member of AKB48 from 2010 to 2022. Her social media presence includes accounts on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). After her final group activity in February 2022 she began working as a beautician.

Name (English)

Rena Katō

Name (Japanese)

加藤玲奈

Reading

かとう れな

Born

July 10, 1997 (age 29)

Origin

Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Height

160cm

Occupation

Idol / Actress

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Ox

Blood type

B

Active years

2010 - 2026

Debut

2010

Works summary

Appearances

128

By year (titles with a known year)

2011: 2, 2012: 2, 2013: 2, 2014: 2, 2015: 9, 2016: 4, 2017: 6, 2018: 4, 2019: 2, 2020: 1, 2022: 2, 2024: 1, year unknown: 91

Filmography / notable works

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/katorena_ktrn/
• Xhttps://x.com/katorena_akb48
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8A%A0%E8%97%A4%E7%8E%B2%E5%A5%88%20(%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%89%E3%83%AB)
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q169689

Tags

• From Chiba Prefecture
• Idol
• Actress

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.