Aya Ueto

Aya Ueto is a Japanese entertainer whose career began in 1997, when at eleven she took a special jury prize at the seventh edition of the All-Japan Bishoujo Contest. Born in Tokyo, she moved into acting and singing, taking minor television drama parts and a low budget action film while briefly joining the pop quartet Z-1 with other contest winners. Her portrayal of a high school student in the sixth series of the long-running classroom drama 3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi Sensei won her a wide following in Japan and opened the way to a solo music career, starting with the single Pureness in 2002. The same performance persuaded director Ryûhei Kitamura to give her the title part in Azumi (2003), which arrived around the release of her debut album AYAUETO. Starring roles in popular dramas, along with commercials and magazine covers, followed.