Yu Yamada

Stage Name:Yu Yamada 山田 優 (yamada yū)
Birth name: 山田優子 (Yamada Yuko)
Born : July 5, 1984 (1984-07-05) (age 24)
Origin : Okinawa, Okinawa, Japan
Genre(s) : J-pop
Occupation(s) : Model, Actress, Singer, TV Personality
Instrument(s): Singing
Years active: 1999–Present
Label(s) : Pony Canyon
Website : http://ameblo.jp/yamada-yu/

Yu Yamada (山田 優 ,Yamada Yū, born July 5, 1984 in Okinawa, Japan) is a model, actress, and singer best known from her modeling work with CanCam magazine.

Career

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, Yamada moved to television, making her acting debut in the 2001 drama series Kabachitare! which led to many other drama roles such as in Kange! Danjiki Goikkosama, and Orange Days as well as hosting jobs for NTV’s Minna no Terebi and Fuji TV’s F1 Grand Prix. She has also starred in a few films acting alongside many prominent young stars including, Ryuhei Matsuda, Hiroki Narimiya and Shugo Oshinari.

Yamada has also appeared in advertisements for Nissin instant foods, Ezaki Glico, Vodafone cellular phones, Kanebo line of cosmetics, Canon and most recently Fujitsu Ten navigation systems.

In 2006 Yamada 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 number 10 on the Oricon Charts.