2008 due to his involvement with the Olympic Games in Beijing and Arashi's concert tours, 2009 saw his first lead role in a drama series since Yoiko no Mikata in 2003. In 2009, in the drama The Quiz Show 2 with You Yokoyama, he portrayed an amnesic host of a live TV quiz program. He portrayed , a 28-year-old life insurance salesman who is caught up in a building hijack. Sakurai appeared in the docudrama special on January 16, 2010. He portrayed , a real photo reporter who worked for the Kobe Shimbun and helped keep the newspaper running without interruption despite the damage inflicted from the Kobe earthquake. On January 17, 2010, TBS aired the first episode of Sakurai and Maki Horikita's comedy drama . On August 18, 2011, it was announced that Sakurai would be starring in a Fuji TV drama in the Fall season. The drama is based on a bestselling novel published in 2010 by author Higashigawa Tokuya. Sakurai co-starred with actress Keiko Kitagawa. The drama aired starting in October. On January 26, 2012, it was announced that Fuji TV would produce a drama special for Nazotoki... to be aired on March 27. Sakurai played the lead role of Kageyama again, while Kitagawa reprised her role of Reiko Hosho. The drama special was filmed at Okinawa. A second special and a movie were released in August 2013 On January 25, 2012, TBS announced a three-night drama special Blackboard – Teachers Waging The Battles of Their Times, which aired in early April. Sakurai starred on the first night as a junior high school teacher who lost his right arm by war and struggled the change of moral after the war. His co-star was Yuko Oshima of AKB48. In January 2023, Sakurai appears in his 5th drama with NTV, after Yoiko no Mikata (2003), The Quiz Show 2 (2009), Saki ni Umareta Dake no Boku (2017) and Nemesis (2021). Dai byōin senkyo is about a hospital suddenly occupied by an armed group wearing demon masks. Sakurai plays a detective, currently on leave of absence, who confronts the criminals, in the action-packed suspense drama. Film In 2002, Sakurai made his motion picture debut in Arashi's first movie together, . He portrayed Chu, a yankee who dropped out of high school after an incident involving his teacher and the girl he had a crush on. In 2004, he reprised his