Aoi Yamada (山田葵, ''Yamada Aoi'', born June 24, 2000) is a Japanese dancer, model and actress based in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. Her dance form is inspired by

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and

butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founder ...

movements. In 2021, Yamada performed at the closing ceremony of the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. As an actress, Yamada has appeared in the television series '' First Love'' (2022) and in the drama film ''

Perfect Days ''Perfect Days'' is a 2023 Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Wim Wenders from a script written by Wenders and Takuma Takasaki. A co-production between Japan and Germany, the film follows the routine life of Hirayama (Koji Yakus ...

'' (2023).

Early life

Aoi Yamada was born on June 24, 2000 in Matsumoto,

Nagano Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture ...

, Japan. She was a shy and introverted child. Yamada became interested in dance and fashion at the age of five.

Career

Yamada moved to Tokyo at age 15 to pursue a career as a dancer. She then started to model and perform in numerous music videos and stage performances, including at Baselworld in 2018 and 2019. Yamada has also performed at the Yokohama Sogo Museum of Art and for the Kanagawa Arts Theatre. During the closing ceremony of the

, held in Tokyo, Yamada danced a solo performance. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Yamada went viral on social media for videos of herself dancing with vegetables. The videos brought her to the attention of fashion designer

Stella McCartney Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is a daughter of English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and American photographer and animals rights activist Linda McCartney. Like her parents, McCartney is ...

, with whom she will collaborate frequently in the future. Yamada also modeled for

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former World number 1 male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam (tennis), ...

Lacoste Lacoste S.A. (; ) is a French designer sports fashion company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur André Gillier. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The ...

, Rabanne, and

Uniqlo ( ; ) is a Japanese casual wear designer and retailer. The company is a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. Clare Waight Keller is the creative director. History Men's Shop OS was founded in Ube, Yamaguchi. It was rebrand ...

. She has appeared in the magazines ''

Numéro ''Numéro'' is an international fashion magazine published by Paul-Emmanuel Reiffers. It has a circulation of 80,000, and the French edition reached its 100th issue in February 2009. The magazine covers international fashion, beauty, design, he ...

'', ''Bella'', ''

Madame Figaro ''Madame Figaro'' () is a French magazine supplement to the Saturday edition of the daily newspaper , focusing on and catering to women. History and profile The first edition was published in 1980. ''Madame Figaro'' was spearheaded by Robert H ...

, CYAN'' and ''Rice''. Yamada made her acting debut in 2021 in a minor role in the Wowow drama FM 999: 999 Women's Songs. She subsequently acted in the short film ''Somewhere in the Snow'' and in the romantic TV series ''First Love''. Yamada next appeared as Aya in the 2023 film by

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and photographer, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Venice International Film ...

, ''

'', opposite

Koji Yakusho , known professionally as , is a Japanese actor. He is known internationally for his starring roles in Shall We Dance? (1996 film), ''Shall We Dance?'' (1996), ''Cure (film), Cure'' (1997), ''13 Assassins (2010 film), 13 Assassins'' (2010), ''T ...

. Yamada is part of the

WACK WACK (1420 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a full service format and licensed to Newark, New York, United States. The station is owned by Waynco Radio, Inc., and features programming from CBS News Radio, Premiere Networks, SportsMap, and ...

unit AiNATOAOI alongside singer and idol Aina the End. The duo previously collaborated on the music video for "Red:birthmark".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamada, Aoi 2000 births Living people Japanese female dancers People from Matsumoto, Nagano Japanese female models 21st-century Japanese actresses