Yu Yamada's bio

Yu Yamada (山田優 Yamada Yū, born July 5, 1984 in Okinawa, Japan) is a model, actress, singer and TV presenter.

Yamada graduated from Okinawa Actor's School. In 1999, while working as a model for the Japanese fashion magazine CanCam under an exclusive contract, she also worked as a singer in the group "y'z factory" (formed with two other students of the Okinawa Actor's School) and released a total of six singles and one album but in 2002, the group disbanded. Following the group's break up, she has mostly worked as a TV personality and actress. Her first acting gig was in the drama series "Kabachitare!" which led to many other roles such as in "Aisuru tame ni Aisaretai", "Sore wa, Totsuzen, Arashi no youni...". In 2005 she was cast as the leading role of Yukari for the anime Paradise Kiss, adapted from Yazawa Ai's manga of the same title. Yu was also one of the hosts on the variety show Minna no Terebi (Everybody's TV). She can now be seen in the drama "Damens' Walker" which started in October 2006.

She recently debuted as a solo artist with the single "REAL YOU" which was used as the theme song for the movie "Akihabara@DEEP" (starring Yamada herself) and peaked at #10 on the Oricon Charts She is currently a co-presenter of Formula One Grand Prix Racing in Japan, broadcasted on Fuji TV.

Yamada also appears in advertising for instant spaghetti, yoghurt, Vodafone mobile phones, Kanebo's T'estimo line of cosmetics and most recently Canon Ink Jet Picture "PIXUS".

Trivia
* Her mother, Yamada Mikako, was the first "Miss Okinawa".
* Her brother, Yamada Shintarou, debuted as a model in July 2006.
* She is the eldest of three children, her brother Shintarou comes second and she has another younger brother.
* Voice actress for Yukari Hayasaka in the anime Paradise Kiss.
* Graduated from Okinawa Actors School; before that she graduated from a private all-girls school in Hiji close