is a Japanese actress. She is known for her roles in ''

Nana Nana, Na Na or NANA may refer to: People * Nana (given name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Nana (surname), including a list of people and characters with the surname * Nana (chief) (died 1896), Mimbreño Ap ...

'' and ''

Virgin Snow ''Virgin Snow'' (; ''Hatsuyuki no koi'') is a 2007 South Korean film directed by Han Sang-hye and starring Korean actor, Lee Joon-gi and Japanese actress, Aoi Miyazaki. Plot Min, a young Korean boy, moves to Japan with his father, who is a potte ...

''.

Career

Miyazaki started working in the entertainment industry at the age of four. Initially she appeared mostly in commercials, magazine advertisements, and as an extra in television dramas. Miyazaki made her film debut in ''Ano Natsu no Hi'' at the age of 14. Also at the age of 14, Miyazaki began to draw international attention for her role as the survivor of a traumatic bus hijack in

Shinji Aoyama was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, composer, film critic, and novelist. He graduated from Rikkyo University. He won two awards at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for his film '' Eureka''. Biography Shinji Aoyama was born in Kitakyushu, ...

's ''Eureka''. The film won the

International Federation of Film Critics The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the worl ...

Prize at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

2000, and resulted in her receiving the Best Actress award at the

Japanese Professional Movie Awards The are an annual Japanese film award. The first awards were given to films made in 1991. This award is hosted by Hiroo Ōtaka. Categories *Best Film *Best Director *Best Actor *Best Actress Editions *1st (1991) *2nd (1992) * 3rd (1993) * 4th ( ...

. She also made her musical debut in ''The Little Prince'' in 2003. Later, Miyazaki won Best Actress award in the

Cinemanila International Film Festival The Cinemanila International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Manila, Philippines. It was founded by Filipino filmmaker Amable "Tikoy" Aguiluz in 1999. The focus of the festival is on the cinema of the Philippines as well as Sout ...

for her performance in ''Harmful Insect''. She teamed up with Aoyama again in '' Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani?'', an

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

selection at Cannes 2005. Later in the same year, she co-starred with

Mika Nakashima is a Japanese singer and actress. Five of her studio albums, one of her mini-albums and one of her compilation albums have reached number one in Japan's Oricon album chart. She also embarked on an acting career, most notably as Nana Osaki in th ...

in the mainstream and commercially successful ''

''. She won the Galaxy Individual Award for her performance in the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

drama '' Atsuhime'' in 2008.

Endorsements

Miyazaki has appeared in commercials for major corporations including

Aflac Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company) is an American insurance company and is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States. It was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia. In the U.S., it ...

Tokyo Metro The Tokyo Metro () is a major rapid transit system in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the #Organization, Tokyo Metro Co. With an average daily ridership of 6.52 million passengers (as of 2023), the Tokyo Metro is the larger of the Tokyo subway, two s ...

, NTT DoCoMo and

Olympus Olympus or Olympos () may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Lesbos * Mount Olympus (Euboea) ...

. In early 2008, she was selected as

Emporio Armani Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...

's new print advertisement model. Miyazaki has been the face of the Japanese popular apparel brand ''Earth music&ecology'' since 2010.

Humanitarian activities

In recent years, Miyazaki has taken a more prominent position in

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

activism projects. She travelled with her older brother and fellow actor, Masaru Miyazaki, to Bangladesh in 2005 to experience poverty firsthand, and they highlighted the problems then found in their 2006

photobook A photo book or photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content. A photo book is related to and also often used as a coffee table book. Early Early photo books are characterized by their use of ...

''Tarinai Peace''. The siblings travelled to Denmark and Finland in 2006 to investigate global warming. Their experiences were then published in their 2007 photobooks ''Love, Peace'', and ''Green Tarinai, Peace2''. Miyazaki took part in the Gold Ribbon Walking event in

Roppongi Roppongi (, , 'six trees') is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popu ...

, Tokyo in 2008 to raise awareness and funds for childhood

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. Her 2008 film, ''Children of the Dark'', addresses issues of child exploitation.

Personal life

Miyazaki married actor

Sosuke Takaoka is a Japanese former actor, known for his break-out performance in the controversial movie '' Battle Royale''. Career His break-out performance was in the controversial movie '' Battle Royale'', in which he played the pacifistic Hiroki Sugimur ...

, her partner since she was fifteen, on 15 June 2007. They divorced in December 2011, with Takaoka subsequently accusing her of committing adultery on his Twitter account. Miyazaki married singer

Junichi Okada is an actor, fight choreographer and a former member of Japanese boy band V6. Career Music career In the summer of 1995, Okada participated in ''Johnny's Pre-School'', part of the NTV program . He passed the audition and joined Johnny & ...

on 23 December 2017. The couple jointly announced that they had welcomed the birth of their first child, a son, born May 2018.

Filmography

Film

TV dramas

Dubbing

*''

Franny's Feet ''Franny's Feet'' (French: ''Franny et les chaussures magiques'') is a Canadian animated children's television series created by writer Cathy Moss and fellow Susin Nielsen. The series was produced by Decode Entertainment with the participation ...

'', Franny

Awards

References

External links

Aoi Miyazaki Official Website
* *
Aoi Miyazaki Pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miyazaki Aoi 1985 births Living people Japanese film actresses Japanese female models Japanese television actresses Actresses from Tokyo Asadora lead actors Taiga drama lead actors Japanese child actresses 20th-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese actresses