Miyazaki Aoi, 宮崎あおい, みやざき あおい (born November 30, 1985 in Tokyo, Japan) began her acting career in television commercials at the young age of four. When Miyzaki was 14, she began to draw international attention for her role as the survivor of a traumatic bus hijack in Shinji Aoyama's Eureka. The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival 2000, and resulted in her receiving the Best New Actress Award of the Japanese Professional Movie Awards.

Later, she won Best Actress Awards in the Nantes Festival of the 3 Continents and the Cinemanila International Film Festival for her convincing performance in Harmful Insect. She teamed up with Aoyama again in Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?, an Un Certain Regard selection at Cannes 2005. Later in the same year, Aoi Miyazaki co-starred with Mika Nakashima in the mainstream & commercially successful Nana, which boosted her career to a new level of popularity.

On June 15th, 2007 Aoi Miyazaki married long time boyfriend and actor Sousuke Takaoka. Her older brother is actor Masaru Miyazaki.

Beyond acting, Aoi Miyzaki has become a much sought after spokesperson and model. She has appeared in commercials for major corporations like Aflac, Tokyo Metro, and Olympus. In early 2008 Aoi Miyazaki was also selected as Emperio Armani's new print advertisement model.

With each year Aoi Miyazaki has taken a more prominent position in activism projects. In 2005, Aoi Miyazaki with older brother Masaru Miyazaki traveled to India to experience firsthand poverty stricken in that area and highlight those problems to their fans via their 2006 photobook Tarinai Peace. In 2006, the siblings traveled to Denmark & Finland to investigate global warming. Their experiences were then published in their 2007 photobook Love.Peace & Green Tarinai Peace2. More recently, in April, 2008, Aoi Miyazaki took part in the Gold Ribbon Walking event in Roppongi, Tokyo to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer. Her 2008 film Children of the Dark also addresses issues of child exploitation.


Related Links:

Aoi Miyazaki Official Website (Japan)