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Yu Aoi is a Actor Japonaise born on 17 august 1985 at Kasuga (Japon)

Yu Aoi

Yu Aoi
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Nationality Japon
Birth 17 august 1985 (38 years) at Kasuga (Japon)

Yu Aoi (蒼井 優, Aoi Yū, born August 17, 1985 in Kasuga, Fukuoka) 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.

Biography

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, 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, Yamaha, DoCoMo, Toshiba and Coca Cola.

In 2003, commemorating the 30th anniversary of Kit Kat 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 with Shido Nakamura and Kenichi Matsuyama. 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. 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, Canon, Shiseido Cosmetics, Shueisha Publishing, Kirin Beverage and continued endorsing DoCoMo. Aoi also released two photobooks with Yoko Takahashi as photographer, 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 alongside Joe Odagiri, as well as WOWOW's Don't Laugh at My Romance, Welcome to the Quiet Room with Yuki Uchida, and going back to the stage to play Desdemona in a rendition of Shakespeare's Othello. 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 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, 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, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon Ho.

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.

In June 2009, the film Ikechan and Me, a live-action adaptation of the picture book of the same name by Rieko Saibara, was released. In it she lends her voice to Ikechan, as well as playing supporting roles in Honokaa Boy and Yoji Yamada's Ototo.

She starred in Ryūichi Hiroki's 2010 film The Lightning Tree. She has also appeared in the films such as Vampire and Rurouni Kenshin.

She appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2012 television drama Penance.

Best films

Usually with

Shunji Iwai
Shunji Iwai
(6 films)
Keishi Ōtomo
Keishi Ōtomo
(3 films)
Ayumi Itō
Ayumi Itō
(4 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Yu Aoi (28 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

The Case of Hana & Alice, 1h40
Directed by Shunji Iwai
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Comedy, Animation
Actors Anne Suzuki, Yu Aoi, Ryo Katsuji, Haru Kuroki, Tae Kimura, Ranran Suzuki
Roles Alice
Rating71% 3.550373.550373.550373.550373.55037
Alice est une nouvelle élève du collège Ishinomori, au Japon. Dès son arrivée, elle entend une rumeur : un collégien, nommé Judas, aurait disparu l'année précédente.
Journey to the Shore, 2h7
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Fantastic, Fantasy, Romance
Actors Tadanobu Asano, Eri Fukatsu, Yu Aoi, Akira Emoto
Roles Tomoko
Rating63% 3.151953.151953.151953.151953.15195
Mizuki, veuve depuis trois ans, vit seule en donnant des cours de piano aux enfants. Un soir, son mari revient à la maison. Il lui annonce que son corps a bien disparu en mer, mangé par les crabes, mais que depuis il a parcouru le Japon et sympathisé avec des vivants et d'autres personnes « comme lui ». Il demande à Mizuki de l’accompagner pour découvrir tout ce qu’il a fait et vu…
Climbing to Spring, 1h56
Directed by Daisaku Kimura
Genres Drama
Actors Kenichi Matsuyama, Yu Aoi, Sōsuke Ikematsu, Sakura Andō, Renji Ishibashi, Isao Natsuyagi
Roles Ai Takazawa
Rating62% 3.14193.14193.14193.14193.1419
Tōru, a struggling securities trader in Tokyo, learns that his father Isao has died in a mountain rescue operation. He returns to his home town in the mountains of central Japan for the wake. He spontaneously decides to quit his prestigious job and take over the remote mountain hut that Isao operated during the summer season. Helping him are Ai, a young woman who's an excellent cook, and Goro, a somewhat mysterious friend of Isao's.
Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends, 2h15
Directed by Keishi Ōtomo
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films, Samurai films
Actors Takeru Satoh, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Min Tanaka, Yu Aoi, Emi Takei, Yūsuke Iseya
Roles Takani Megumi
Rating75% 3.7517053.7517053.7517053.7517053.751705
In a flashback, Hiko Seijūrō finds young Shinta digging graves for bandits and slavers killed in battle. Shinta explains that all people are only bodies after death. Hiko decides to take Shinta as his student and names him "Kenshin". Kenshin wakes up at Master Hiko's home, and asks if his friend (Kaoru) was also washed up. He has been unconscious for three days, and master tells him that his friend is most likely dead. Kenshin asks to learn the final Hiten Mitsurugi technique, "Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki", in order to defeat Shishio Makoto and prevent his onslaught. Hiko agrees, and the two engage in a duel to start his training.
Rurouni Kenshin Part II: Kyoto Inferno, 2h19
Directed by Keishi Ōtomo
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Animation
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films, Samurai films
Actors Takeru Satoh, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Yu Aoi, Min Tanaka, Emi Takei, Ryūnosuke Kamiki
Roles Takani Megumi
Rating75% 3.751163.751163.751163.751163.75116
Kenshin has settled into his new life with Kaoru and his other friends when he is approached with a request from the Meiji government. Makoto Shishio, a former assassin like Kenshin, was betrayed, set on fire and left for dead. He survived, and is now in Kyoto, plotting with his gathered warriors to overthrow the new government. Against Kaoru's wishes, Kenshin reluctantly agrees to go to Kyoto and help keep his country from falling back into civil war.
Tokyo Family, 2h26
Directed by Yōji Yamada
Origin Japon
Genres Drama
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films
Actors Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Masahiko Nishimura, Yu Aoi, Tomoko Nakajima, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yui Natsukawa
Roles Noriko Mamiya
Rating74% 3.743493.743493.743493.743493.74349
The film is set in Tokyo.
Space Pirate Captain Harlock, 1h50
Directed by Shinji Aramaki
Origin Japon
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy, Animation
Themes Space adventure films, Dans l'espace, Films set in the future, Space opera, Films about extraterrestrial life
Actors Shun Oguri, Haruma Miura, Yu Aoi, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Miyuki Sawashiro, Māya Sakamoto
Roles Miime (Mimay in English release)
Rating64% 3.207123.207123.207123.207123.20712
In the future, mankind has discovered a way to travel faster than light and has built colonies on thousands of planets. With humanity fading and the resources of the universe starting to dwindle, some five hundred billion humans began the long journey back home, Earth. However, humanity has outgrown its capacity to repatriate that many people and thus began the "Homecoming War," where the many factions of humanity battled for a stake on Earth. The war was long and bloody, things wouldn't subside until an authoritarian universal government by the name of the Gaia Sanction declares Earth a sacred planet, and thus forbidden for humanity to repopulate.
Penance
Penance (2013)
, 4h30
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Origin Japon
Genres Drama
Actors Kyoko Koizumi, Yu Aoi, Eiko Koike, Sakura Andō, Chizuru Ikewaki, Ryō Kase
Roles Sae Kikuchi
Rating65% 3.279633.279633.279633.279633.27963
A young girl, Emili, is killed by a stranger in elementary school. Although her four friends saw the suspect, they say they don't remember it. 15 years have passed and the incident is still unsolved. Emili's mother, Asako (Kyoko Koizumi), makes them do penance for it. The series focuses on the psychological repercussions on each of the four girls, 15 years later.
Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins, 2h14
Directed by Keishi Ōtomo
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, War, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Historical
Themes Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films, Samurai films
Actors Takeru Satoh, Emi Takei, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yu Aoi, Go Ayano, Yōsuke Eguchi
Roles Takani Megumi, one of Kanryū's forced opium-makers, though from a famed family of doctors and healers.
Rating74% 3.701513.701513.701513.701513.70151
As the Imperialist forces celebrated their victory in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, the participant Hitokiri Battōsai walks away from the battlefield, abandoning his sword. But, the Battōsai's old katana is not left alone. It is claimed by one of the fallen, Udo Jin-e.
Vampire
Vampire (2012)
, 2h
Directed by Shunji Iwai
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Horror
Themes Vampires in film
Actors Kevin Zegers, Keisha Castle-Hugues, Amanda Plummer, Yu Aoi, Trevor Morgan, Kristin Kreuk
Roles Mina
Rating52% 2.6122252.6122252.6122252.6122252.612225
Simon (Kevin Zegers) is a seemingly ordinary biology teacher that spends much of his spare time caring for his Alzheimers-ridden mother Helga (Amanda Plummer). This ends up not being the case, as Simon believes himself to be a vampire and spends much of his time looking at online sites for suicidal women who would make for easy prey. One such woman, Jellyfish (Keisha Castle-Hughes), is tricked into believing that she and Simon will both be killing one another, only for Simon to drink her blood after he administers sleeping pills and draws blood from her. Along with his vampiric hobby, Simon tries to keep his mother indoors by putting her in a straitjacket-esque contraption tied to several large balloons. It's when Simon meets Laura (Rachael Leigh Cook) that things begin to unravel, as she grows obsessed with him to the point where she breaks into his home. Things begin to further devolve when Renfield (Trevor Morgan), a man who also believes himself to be a vampire, emerges onto the scene and is far more violent than Simon ever dared to be.
Tamatama
Tamatama (2011)
, 53minutes
Genres Drama
Actors Yu Aoi
Rating69% 3.4768253.4768253.4768253.4768253.476825
Patisserie Coin De Rue
Directed by Yoshihiro Fukagawa
Genres Drama
Actors Yōsuke Eguchi, Yu Aoi, Noriko Eguchi, Hiroyuki Onoue, Nathan Berg, Mariko Kaga
Roles Natsume, a cake-maker’s daughter who traveled from Kagoshima to Tokyo to chase after a boyfriend and works at a popular Tokyo shop called “Pastry Coin de Rue”.
Rating62% 3.1459453.1459453.1459453.1459453.145945
Tomura was once widely lauded as a legendary patissier, but suddenly and inexplicably left the world of sweets some eight years before the setting of the film and repeatedly declined invitations to show off his skills at a renowned pastry shop in Tokyo where he is a regular. Since that time, Tomura has only lectured at culinary schools and wrote a guidebook for pastry critics.
About Her Brother, 2h6
Directed by Yōji Yamada
Genres Drama, Comedy
Actors Sayuri Yoshinaga, Shōfukutei Tsurube II, Yu Aoi, Yuriko Ishida, Ryō Kase, Takashi Sasano
Roles Koharu
Rating69% 3.487833.487833.487833.487833.48783
The story unfolds as the young Koharu (Yū Aoi), the daughter of a pharmacist in a modest neighborhood of Tokyo, is about to get married to the son of a prestigious family, and even before the event everybody is anxious that Tetsuro (Tsurube Shofukutei), the younger brother of Koharu's mother, Ginko (Sayuri Yoshinaga), might join the wedding ceremony, as he is considered to be the black sheep of the family and even Ginko and Koharu consider him to be an embarrassment, even though he has lived with the family for quite some time after the death of Koharu's father.
Redline
Redline (2010)
, 1h42
Directed by Takeshi Koike
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Action, Animation
Themes Sports films, Transport films, Films about automobiles, Films set in the future, Auto racing films, Road movies
Actors Takuya Kimura, Yu Aoi, Tadanobu Asano, Takeshi Aono, Unshō Ishizuka, Yoshiyuki Morishita
Rating74% 3.7490753.7490753.7490753.7490753.749075
In the future, on the planet Dorothy, a world dominated by canine humanoids, duck's ass-hairstyle wearing "Sweet" JP races in the planet's Yellowline car race, a final elimination race despite two interplanetary wars to the most popular race in the galaxy, the Redline. The crowd is watching the race on an outdoor giant monitor screen in the desert town of the Water Stop. His mechanic, Joshua "Frisbee" Flathead, is watching the televised race with a mafia boss. The gambling boss is concerned that JP might attempt to win the fixed race but Frisbee reassures him that JP needs bail bond funds from the pay-off. JP attempts to win anyway while Frisbee resorts to using a remote detonator transmitter hidden in the palm of his hand which the mob boss doesn't notice, causing JP's TransAM20000 to explode and making the 'Crab Sonoshee Sea' hovercraft piloted by female racer Sonoshee "Cherry Boy Hunter" McLaren the winner.
Tokyo!
Tokyo! (2008)
, 1h52
Directed by Michel Gondry, Bong Joon-ho, Leos Carax
Origin France
Genres Drama, Fantastic, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Fantasy, Anthology film, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Prison films, Transport films, Films about capital punishment
Actors Ayako Fujitani, Ryō Kase, Denis Lavant, Jean-François Balmer, Ayumi Itō, Teruyuki Kagawa
Roles The pizza delivery girl
Rating69% 3.499253.499253.499253.499253.49925
Directed by Michel Gondry. It is an adaptation of the short story comic "Cecil and Jordan in New York" by Gabrielle Bell.