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is a Japanese actress and model. She made her film debut as Shiori Tsuda in Shunji Iwai's 2001 film '' All About Lily Chou-Chou''. She subsequently portrayed Tetsuko Arisugawa in '' Hana and Alice'' (2004), also directed by Iwai, Kimiko Tanigawa in the hula dancing film '' Hula Girls'' and Hagumi Hanamoto in the 2006 live-action adaptation of the '' Honey and Clover'' manga series. She has won numerous awards for her performances on screen, including the Japan Academy Prize and Kinema Junpo Awards for best supporting actress in 2007 for '' Hula Girls'' and Rookie of the Year for continued performances in the field of ''Films in Media and Fine Arts'' by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan in 2009.


Early life

Aoi was born on August 17, 1985, in
Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...
, Japan. She moved to Tokyo in junior high school and lived in Kasai, Edogawa ward.


Career


Early career

Yu Aoi made her stage debut as Polly in the 1999 rendition of '' Annie'', followed by her appearance as a regular on TV Tokyo's '' Oha Suta'' (The Super Kids Station) in 2000. A year later, she debuted in Shunji Iwai's '' All About Lily Chou-Chou'' playing Shiori Tsuda alongside Hayato Ichihara,
Shugo Oshinari is a Japanese actor. Career Oshinari co-starred in Shunji Iwai's '' All About Lily Chou-Chou'' with Hayato Ichihara. He also appeared in films such as Kenta Fukasaku's '' Battle Royale II: Requiem'' and Takahisa Zeze's '' Heaven's Story''. ...
, Miwako Ichikawa, and Ayumi Ito. Aoi would later work in ''Ao to Shiro de Mizuiro'' and ''Gaichu'' with friend Aoi Miyazaki. With her first roles on the small and big screen came TV commercials and endorsements for
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
, Yamaha, DoCoMo,
Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...
and
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
. In 2003, commemorating the 30th anniversary of
Kit Kat Kit Kat (stylised as KitKat in various countries) is a chocolate-covered wafer bar Confectionery, confection created by Rowntree's of York, England. It is produced globally by Nestlé (which acquired Rowntree's in 1988), except in the United S ...
in Japan, Shunji Iwai shot a series of short films starring Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki, which later was expanded into the feature film called ''Hana & Alice'', which earned Aoi the Best Actress award at the Japanese Professional Movie Award.


2005–2007

In 2005, Aoi played her first lead on the big screen in ''Letters from Kanai Nirai'', which was sold in Korea with the alternate title of ''Aoi Yu's Letter'' due to her popularity. She also had supporting roles in the Satoshi Miki film '' Turtles Swim Faster than Expected'' starring Juri Ueno, and ''
Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...
'' with Shido Nakamura and
Kenichi Matsuyama is a Japanese actor. He is known for his affinity for strange character roles, and he is best known internationally for playing L in the 2006 films ''Death Note'', '' Death Note 2: The Last Name'' and '' L: Change the World'' in 2008. He was ca ...
. This supporting role would earn her one of her double-nomination as Best Supporting Actress at the 2007 Japanese Academy Award. She won against herself for her work as Kimiko Tanikawa in the Japanese hit Hula Girls, which was sent to the Academy Awards as the Japanese official selection that year. To this date, her role as the hula dancing girl from small town Iwaki remains her most successful role yet, earning her a dozen awards as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, alongside her other smaller roles that year as Hagu in Honey & Clover, and Kana Sato in the Shunji-Iwai-produced and Nirai-Kanai-directed ''
Rainbow Song is a 2006 Japanese film by director Naoto Kumazawa and produced by Shunji Iwai (who also co-wrote the screenplay under pseudonym Aminosan). Kumazawa had worked with Iwai before, having directed the making-of documentary for ''Swallowtail (fil ...
''. Aoi also lent her voice to play Shiro in the animated film '' Tekkon Kinkreet'', the adaptation to the Taiyō Matsumoto manga, Black and White, directed by Michael Arias. During these years, she made commercials for
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
,
Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
, Shiseido Cosmetics, Shueisha Publishing, Kirin Beverage and continued endorsing DoCoMo. Aoi also released two photobooks with Yoko Takahashi as
photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...
, and distributed by Rockin'on: ''Travel Sand'' in 2005 and ''Dandelion'' in 2007. In 2007, she participated in the live-action adaptation of the manga series ''
Mushishi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ' from 1999 to 2002, and in ''Monthly Afternoon'' from December 2002 to August 2008. The individual chapters were ...
'' alongside Joe Odagiri, as well as WOWOW's ''Don't Laugh at My Romance'', '' Welcome to the Quiet Room'' with
Yuki Uchida (born November 16, 1975) is a Japanese actress and former idol singer. Following her debut in the drama '' Sono Toki, Heart wa Nusumareta'' (1992), she received her first lead role in the 1994 drama adaption of '' The Girl Who Leapt Through Tim ...
, and going back to the stage to play
Desdemona Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venice, Italy, Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello (char ...
in a rendition of ''
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's
Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...
''. For these last two roles, Aoi lost 7 kg for her role as eating disorder patient, Miki.


2008–present

Aoi began 2008 with the release of ''Don't Laugh at My Romance'', which earned her a nomination as Best Supporting Actress at the
Asian Film Awards The Asian Film Awards are presented annually by the Asian Film Awards Academy to recognise the excellence of the film professionals in the film industries of Asian cinema. History On January 29, 2007, Wilfred Wong, the Chairman of Hong Kon ...
2009. She appeared in the experimental drama ''Camouflage'' (aka. Aoi Yu x 4 Lies), in which she collaborated with four different directors exploring the theme of lies. The series lasted for 12 episodes, and included work with Ryō Kase, Yoichi Nukumizu, Shoko Ikezu,
Nobuhiro Yamashita is a Japanese film director. Career Born in Aichi Prefecture, Yamashita attended Osaka University of Arts where he worked on Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's '' Kichiku Dai Enkai''. His graduation film ''Hazy Life'', took the Off Theatre Competition Grand ...
, and Yuki Tanada. A couple of months later, NTV signed Aoi to play her first TV leading role as Handa Sen in the live-action adaptation of Shota Kikuchi's manga series ''Osen'', which aired until the end of June with ten episodes. Next, Aoi released ''One Million Yen Girl'' written and directed by ''Camouflage'' director Yuki Tanada, and also released by WOWOW. This was her latest leading film role since Nirai Kanai in 2005. She briefly participated in the Japanese World-War-II-jury-themed film '' Best Wishes for Tomorrow'', as well as the international '' Tokyo!'' - a three-short-film collection by
Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker and producer noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one o ...
,
Leos Carax Alex Christophe Dupont (born 1960), best known as Leos Carax (), is a French film director, critic and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love. His first major work was ''Boy Meets Girl (1984 film), Boy Me ...
, and
Bong Joon Ho Bong Joon Ho (, ; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean filmmaker. Bong Joon Ho filmography, His work is characterized by emphasis on social and class themes, genre fiction, genre-mixing, black comedy, dark comedy, and sudden tone shifts. ...
. In 2009, The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan named Yu Aoi Rookie of the Year in the field of Films in Media and Fine Arts, citing her work in her film debut in ''All About Lily Chou Chou'', until her work in ''One Million Yen Girl''. Later that year, Aoi provided the voice of Ikechan in the film ''Ikechan and Me'', a live-action adaptation of the picture book of the same name by Rieko Saibara, as well as playing supporting roles in ''Honokaa Boy'' and
Yoji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy ('' The Twilight Samurai'', '' The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography Yamada was born in Osaka, but due to his father' ...
's '' Ototo''. The following year Aoi starred in Ryūichi Hiroki's 2010 film ''The Lightning Tree''. She later appeared in ''
Vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...
'', ''
Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins in 1878, the 11th year of the Meiji era in Japan, and follows a former assassin of the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work against ...
'', and
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic, author, actor, and a former professor at Tokyo University of the Arts (2005-2023). Noted for his psychological films that often focus on ambiguous narratives and on their characters' i ...
's 2012 television drama ''
Penance Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of contrition for sins committed, as well as an alternative name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. The word ''penance'' derive ...
''.


Personal life

Aoi married comedian Ryota Yamasato on June 3, 2019. On February 10, 2022, they announced that she was pregnant with their first child and due in the summer. On August 10, 2022, Yamasato revealed that Aoi had given birth to their daughter.


Filmography


Movies


Television


Stage

*''Zipang Punk: Goemon Rock III'' (2014), Silver Cat Eyes


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aoi, Yu 1985 births Living people People from Kasuga, Fukuoka Japanese film actresses Japanese stage actresses Japanese television actresses 20th-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese actresses Best Actress Asian Film Award winners Horikoshi High School alumni