View text source at Wikipedia
LiLiCo | |
---|---|
![]() LiLiCo, in 2018 | |
Born | Ann-Sophie Lennerfors 16 November 1970 Stockholm, Sweden |
Nationality | Swedish |
Occupation(s) | TV personality, actress, professional wrestler and film critic |
Years active | 1989-present |
Agent | Plan Chime |
Spouse | [1] |
Ann-Sophie Lennerfors (born 16 November 1970) is a Swedish-born Japanese TV personality, film critic and part-time professional wrestler who lives and works in Japan, best known under the stage name LiLiCo.
LiLiCo was born Ann-Sophie Lennerfors in Stockholm, Sweden, to a Japanese mother and a Swedish father.[2][3] As a biracial child in Sweden, LiLiCo was bullied while at school.[3] Her father left the family when LiLiCo was 9 years old.[3]
LiLiCo moved to Japan in 1988 at the age of 18, initially staying with her grandmother in Katsushika, Tokyo.[3] In May 1989, LiLiCo embarked on a career as a singer,[3] releasing her first single in 1992.[4] In 2001, she was offered a job as a film critic on TBS's Saturday morning King's Brunch programme.[3]
In 2014, LiLiCo began working for Japanese professional wrestling company DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where, over the next three years, she won the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship twice and the DDT Extreme Championship once, while also becoming part of the inaugural KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions.[5][6][7][8]
After having fractured her patella in 2020, forcing her to give up wrestling,[9] LiLiCo was invited back to DDT to have a retirement match on March 20, 2022, at Judgement 2022: DDT 25th Anniversary.[10]