Haruka Ayase

Haruka Ayase, born Aya Tademaru on March 24, 1985, in Hiroshima Prefecture, is a prominent Japanese actress and former model. Raised alongside an older brother, she traces her family history to survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She entered the entertainment industry in 2000 after winning the Special Jury Prize at the 25th Horipro Talent Scout Caravan, where she performed a rabbit impression. Her professional name, Haruka Ayase, was selected from an online poll in early 2001.

She initially gained public attention as a gravure idol and made appearances on regional shows such as Cosmo Angel. Her acting debut arrived in 2001 with a role in the drama series Kindaichi Shōnen no Jikenbo. She secured her first regular television role in 2003 on Boku no Ikiru Michi. Her breakthrough came in 2004 when she played Aki Hirose in Socrates in Love, a performance that earned her the Best Supporting Actress award at the 42nd Television Drama Academy Awards after she altered her physical appearance for the role.

Over the following decade, Ayase expanded her career into music and mainstream television. She launched a singing career in 2006 with the Takeshi Kobayashi-produced single Period, which reached the top ten on the Oricon charts. In 2007, she starred in the television adaptation of Hotaru no Hikari, later reprising her role in a 2010 sequel and a 2012 feature film. She made her NHK taiga drama debut portraying the historical figure Niijima Yae in Yae's Sakura, a project that earned an International Emmy Award nomination in 2014.

Ayase continued to take on high-profile film and television roles in subsequent years. She starred in Hirokazu Kore-eda's 2015 feature Our Little Sister, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. From 2016 onward, she showcased physical combat skills starring as Balsa across three seasons of the NHK series Guardian of the Spirit. In 2022, she returned to Fuji TV serial dramas after fourteen years to star in My Ex-Boyfriend's Last Will, and she later teamed up again with director Kore-eda for the 2025 science fiction film Sheep in the Box.

Beyond her acting career, Ayase is a major commercial figure in Japan, serving as a primary spokesperson for brands such as Uniqlo, SK-II, Coca-Cola, and KFC. She has also engaged in philanthropic endeavors, including launching an online awareness initiative and fundraising campaign to support victims of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear disaster.