Japan Beautiful Actress: Yui Aragaki
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Yui Aragaki is a Japanese model, actress, singer, seiyū and occasional radio show host of Ryukyuan ancestry. She is a well-loved Japanese idol. Because of her fashion sense and logical personality, she gained a large fanbase in and out of Japan. Her beauty, particularly her smile, is well-regarded in her home country. She is also considered as one of Japan’s local celebrities who possess beautiful faces. By 2001, her fellow nicomo, Ayako Enamoto, nicknamed her Gakky. Since then, she has been popularly known for this nickname. Aragaki put her modeling stint in nicola on hold in order for her to expand her modeling career into gravure in 2004. Simultaneously, she has also started appearing on variety shows and commercials, her commercials for Glico’s Pocky being the most popular ones. A year after, she officially graduated from the magazine. During the same year, she acted in the TBS drama, Dragon Zakura. 2007 became a successful year for Aragaki, as she started the year with a movie, Waruboro. She has also released her first album, Sora under Warner Music Japan, the carrier single of which was heavenly days, a song used in the movie Koizora. To date, Aragaki has won five Newcomer awards from various award-giving bodies for the roles she played in each of her three 2007 movies. Her fifth Newcomer recognition was in honor of her character in the ¥3.6 billion-grossing movie, Sky of Love. The peak of her winning streak was a major award she won from the prestigious Golden Arrow Awards on March 2008; she won the Film prize for acting in three different roles in a year. Aragaki also made her singing debut in 2007. The ballad called Memories, the theme song for Tokyo Serendipity, marked the beginning of her career as a singer, which was included in her debut album Sora, released on December 5. She also performed her debut performance in Budoukan. Her performance in the said stage made her the third singer to debut in the stadium. Moreover, it is very rare for Japanese artists to release an album before releasing a single. She has also released two new singles in 2008, Make my day and Akai Ito. Currently she is doing a period movie entitled Ballad with SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi where she plays a feudal princess. The movie was inspired by one of the award-winning episodes of Crayon Shin-chan. She is also set to release her fifth single PIECE on February 2009.
Profile
Name: 新垣結衣 (あらがき ゆい)
Name (romaji): Aragaki Yui
Nicknames: Gakky (ガッキー), Yuibo (ゆいぼ)
Profession: Actress, model, singer, seiyū and occasional radio show host
Birthdate: 1988-Jun-11
Birthplace: Naha, Okinawa, Japan
Height: 167cm
Horoscope: Gemini
Blood type: A
Tags: Actress, Japan, Singer, Yui Aragaki
