[1] Yamada gained international popularity through his portrayal as Tamao Serizawa in Crows Zero film series.

A photo of Yamada wearing a wedding ring, which he posted in his Instagram on 9 December, 2016, was like a confirmation to fans that he was married.

His breakout was the 2003 TV drama about men synchronized swimming Water Boys, taking the lead role as Kankuro Shindo.

Yamada continued his success in leading role with Socrates in Love as Sakutaro Matsumoto the year after.

[8][9] He collaborated with Jin Akanishi in August 2016 to form the unit called "Jintaka",[10] which disbanded 2 months later.

[11] And in 2018, together with Gō Ayano (guitar), and Asahi Uchida (synthesizer), forms the unit "The xxxxxx" (read as: "The Six") (Yamada is vocals).

On his Twitter, he confirmed the reason for doing so is that he became overwhelmed with the quantity of followers, but that he is "fine and full of energy, that it seems it is about to burst both physically and mentally".