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Aya Ueto was born in Nerima, Tokyo to an Hokkaidan father and Okinawan mother. She has two brothers; Shun, who is two years older and Makoto, who is sixteen years older. As a child, Ueto studied piano, modern ballet, swimming and rhythmics. She did not have ambitions to become an entertainer; she wanted to become a pre-school teacher. However, at the age of twelve, after hearing about one of her friends' experience as an extra on a TV drama, she decided she "wanted to appear on TV" as well. Unbeknownst to her daughter, Ueto's mother sent an application to the 7th All-Japan National Young Beauty Contest.

Aged only twelve, Ueto won the Judges' Special Choice Prize at the contest. She revealed later on that her real motivation for doing well was to "win the two million cash prize" because she "wanted to buy a house" for her family, however because what she won was an ad hoc prize decided that day, there was no cash prize. After her discovery, she joined the talent agency Oscar Promotion and started acting and singing lessons. In 1999, she obtained her first role in the film Satsujinsha Killer of Paraiso, in which her lines were entirely in English. Later that year she debuted with the girl group Z-1 and landed a recurring spot on the TV variety shows Kaishingeki TV! Utaemon and The Yoru mo Hippare.



In 2000, Ueto got her first TV role in the Fuji TV drama, Namida wo Fuite, starring Yōsuke Eguchi. The drama garnered strong ratings and gave Ueto her then biggest exposure yet. In 2001, Ueto was chosen as model for the annual Victor Kōshien Poster campaign, which, in the past, kick-started the careers of Noriko Sakai and Miho Kanno. Later that year, she was cast as a high school student suffering from gender identity disorder in the sixth series of the TBS drama 3 nen B gumi Kinpachi-sensei. The role propelled her to stardom and subsequently won her a Golden Arrow for Best Newcomer. She has stated that she was completely "absorbed by the role", so much so that she would "forget to enter the girls' bathroom".
In January 2002, it was announced that Ueto would continue her music career as a solo artist under Pony Canyon's subsidiary label, Flight Master. Her debut single, which was scheduled for release in May, was postponed to August.[4] In June, she appeared in a five-episode arc of the long-running home drama Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari and in July, she starred in the TBS drama My Little Chef, alongside Akiko Yada and Hiroshi Abe. In August, Ueto officially debuted as a solo artist with the single "Pureness". It peaked at #4 on the weekly Oricon chart, making it the first debut single by a female artist with no commercial tie-in to enter the Top 5 in three years. In September, Ueto started the filming of her first feature film, Azumi, in Kyoto. In between filming, she recorded her second single, "Kizuna" and launched her own radio show on JOLF, entitled Seventeen's Map.

In January 2003, Ueto was cast as the female lead in a continuation of the 1993 drama, Kōkō Kyōshi, alongside Naohito Fujiki. In February, she released a third single, "Hello" as well as her eponymous first album, Ayaueto, a month later. In April, it was revealed that Ueto had taken a leave of absence from school to focus on her career. She has publicly stated that at the time she was only "getting two hours of sleep" trying to juggle work and school. In May, Ueto launched her first live tour, Ueto Aya First Live Tour Pureness 2003, released a fourth single, "Message/Personal" and Azumi opened nationwide. In July, Ueto got her first leading role in the TBS drama Hitonatsu no Papa e, for which she also sang the theme song. In October she landed a weekly corner on the TV Asahi variety show, Girls A GoGo!.

In January 2004, Ueto starred in her second leading role as Hiromi Oka in the live-action adaption of the popular manga Ace wo Nerae!. The drama was a hit and won her the award for Best Leading Actress at the 40th The Television Drama Academy Awards.[6] Ueto's seventh single, "Ai no Tameni.", which was used as ending theme for the drama, became her biggest hit. During the award season of 2004, Ueto won several awards for her performance in Azumi; she swooped the Newcomer of the Year category of the Élan d'or, the Japan Movie Critic awards, the Japanese Academy Awards and finally the Golden Arrow, becoming the only actress to win one two years in a row. Furthermore, she was nominated at the Japanese Academy Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and won the Popularity Award.

In March, her second album, Message was released and became her highest-selling effort. In July, Ueto made a special guest appearance in Abordage: Setsugen Kougeki, a live spectacle held at Tokyo Dome based on the life of fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto. She also released two singles, "Kaze/Okuru Kotoba" and "Afuresō na Ai, Daite/Namida wo Fuite". In November, she was announced as one of the performers set to appear on the Kōhaku Uta Gassen. In December, Ueto followed up the release of her tenth single, "Usotsuki", with a third album, entitled Re.. She starred alongside Ryūnosuke Kamiki in the movie adaption of Risa Wataya's award-winning novel, Install, which premiered at the 17th Tokyo International Film Festival. With eighteen advertising contracts for sixteen companies, Ueto was crowned CM queen of 2004.

In January 2005, Ueto starred as Utsubo in the NHK taiga drama Yoshitsune. She also modeled for Yumi Katsura's bridal show, Yumi Katsura 2005 Grand Collection. She played the part of twin sisters in the 2005 drama remake of "Koto". In March, Azumi 2: Death or Love opened nationwide. In April, she was cast in another TV Asahi produced live-action adaption of a popular manga, Attack No. 1. The drama enjoyed high ratings. "Yume no Chikara", her eleventh single and theme song to Attack No. 1, was a smash hit. In May, Ueto starred alongside veteran actress Izumi Pinko in a special biopic of the late Misora Hibari. In July, she lent her voice to the character of Kayōko in the animation film Ashita Genki ni Na~re!. In August, Ueto kicked off her second live tour, entitled Ueto Aya Live Tour 2005 "Genki Hatsu Ratsū?", released her twelfth single, "Kaze wo Ukete" and a remix album, Uetoayamix. In September, she participated in the NHK Kayō Charity Concert. In October, Ueto starred alongside Hitomi Kuroki in the second episode of the Nada SōSō Project, entitled Kono Ai ni Ikite. In November, she was chosen as the mascot girl of the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship and covered all the matches throughout the month of December as a special presenter for NTV. She also voiced the character of Kisala for the video game, Rogue Galaxy.



In January 2006, Ueto attended her Coming of Age ceremony. She acted as a special presenter for NTV's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics, for which she traveled to Turin, Italy. She was also chosen as special supporter of the anime Meitantei Conan, in which she even made a guest appearance as herself. In February, she released her thirteenth single, "Egao no Mama de", and her fourth album, License, which featured a song penned by her brother Makoto. She starred in the first episode of the drama adaption of the mobile novel Tsubasa no Oreta Tenshitachi, entitled Celeb. Her episode was the highest rated of the series. This also marked her first appearance on a Fuji TV drama since 2000's Namida wo Fuite. In April, she starred in the modern remake of the 1970 drama, Attention Please, which became her most popular drama. In July, Ueto was cast as Yuika Satonaka in the Yukihiko Tsutsumi-directed comedy, Shimokita Sundays. The drama, however, failed to capture audiences and was one of the worst rated of the summer season. In September, Ueto released her first compilation album, Best of Uetoaya: Single Collection. Later that month, she traveled to Shanghai to film a two-part biopic on actress and singer Ri Kouran. In December, she hosted the Nippon Broadcasting System's 24-hour-long Radio Charity Musicthon and acted as special presenter for NTV's coverage of the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup.

In 2007, Ueto starred in the high-rated special episode of Attention Please, Yōko, Hawaii ni Tobu. She also appeared in Yamamoto Kansai's live spectacle Taiyō no Fune. In February, the two-part biopic Ri Kouran was aired up against the popular drama Karei naru Ichizoku and resulted in low ratings. In March, Ueto released her fourteenth single, "Way to Heaven" and made a guest appearance in the eighth season finale of the TBS drama Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari. In April, Ueto was cast in a remake of the Korean drama Hotelier, which recorded low ratings. In May she released "Namida no Niji/Save Me". The single marked Ueto's first foray into songwriting. In an interview with Oricon Style, she revealed that the reason she insisted on not writing her own lyrics until then was because she felt "shy" about "opening herself completely" to her audience.[8] In June, she lent her voice to the main character of the animation film Piano no Mori. Ueto held her third live tour, Ueto Aya Best live Tour 2007 Never Ever. She stated the tour gave her a "boost of energy" and although 2007 had been a year "filled with worries" she planned on "kicking off 2008 with a good start".[9] In September she starred alongside Hideaki Itō in the period piece Wachigaiya Itosato. In October, Ueto was cast as Yō Ōizumi's wife in the Fuji TV drama Abarenbō Mama, which garnered good ratings.



In March 2008, Ueto won the 24th Asakusa Entertainment Newcomer Prize, which is awarded to the most prominent entertainers based in Tokyo. In April, she took on the role of Yōko Misaki for a third time in the second special of Attention Please, shot in Sydney, Australia. She also starred in her first NTV drama, Hokaben. She was crowned CM Queen for a second time, raking in a significant 360 million yen for her 8 advertisement contracts. In June, she participated in the Japanese dub of Speed Racer, as the voice of Trixie. She became the first actress to ever appear on official postage stamps by releasing an original set with photos taken from her 2007 tour. In August, she made a secret guest appearance at the 2008 Kobe Collection runway show, where she modeled for Emanuel Ungaro. In October, Ueto starred in her ninth TV drama leading role in the Fuji TV comedy Celeb to Binbō Taro, alongside Shūchishin member, Yūsuke Kamiji. She was also chosen as poster girl for the new jury system after playing the part of a lawyer in Hokaben. Ueto attended the premiere of Saki Fukuda's first feature film Sakura no Sono, in which she makes a guest appearance, at the 21st Tokyo International Film Festival. In December, Ueto hosted two of the year's biggest festivities: the M-1 Grand Prix and the 50th Japan Record Awards.

In January 2009, in collaboration with bridal shop Joyful Eli, Ueto launched her own wedding dress collection, entitled U Aya Ueto Dresses. While she has designed her own tour goods in the past, namely the t-shirt line Buddy in 2005, U marks her first official foray into fashion design. In February, it was announced Ueto would co-star with Hayato Ichihara in the Shunji Iwai produced CG film, Baton, created in commemoration of the Port of Yokohama's 150th anniversary. The film also reunites her with Azumi director, Ryuhei Kitamura. In March, Ueto held her first fashion show in support of her wedding dress collection.


Source: Wikipedia