Ueno Juri

 

Juri Ueno (上野 樹里 Ueno Juri, born May 25, 1986) is a Japanese actress from Kakogawa, Hyogo, Japan. She was one of six actors to receive the "Newcomer of the Year" prize at the Japanese Academy Awards in 2005 for her role in Swing Girls.

She is also known for her starring role as the title character in the live-action adaptation of Nodame Cantabile for which she won "Best Lead Actress" at the 51st Television Drama Academy Awards in 2007, and as Ruka Kishimoto in Last Friends for which she was voted "Best Supporting Actress" at the Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix and the 57th Television Drama Academy Awards in 2008.

Ueno made her television debut in 2002 at the age of 16 in the NHK series Seizon before making her first film major appearance in 2003 in Chirosoku no Natsu which won her the Sponichi Grand Prize New Talent Award at the Mainichi Film Awards along with her performance in the 2004 film, Swing Girls. Swing Girls proved to be a breakthrough when she received critical acclaim and awards for Best Newcomer at the Yokohama Film Festival (she was also honored for her performance in Joze to Tora to Sakana Tachi) and theJapanese Academy Awards.

In 2004, Ueno took on a supporting role in TBS's romance drama, Orange Days, and co-starred in 2005 with Takuya Kimura in Fuji TV's romantic comedy Engine as Misae Hoshino. She also appeared with Kazuya Kamenashi in the special television movie of Kinda'ichi Shōnen no Jikenbo the same year taking over the role of Miyuki Nanase from Anne Suzuki.

Ueno's popularity rose further when she was cast as Megumi Noda ("Nodame") in the 2006 live-action television adaptation of the popular manga Nodame Cantabile. Co-starring opposite Hiroshi Tamaki, the series' 11-episode run was a success with an average viewership rating of 18.79% with the season finalé garnering 21.7% of the viewership share for its time slot. Ueno's portrayal as the eccentric and disorganized but yet extremely affable and talented pianist won her "Best Lead Actress" at the 51st Television Drama Academy Awards while the show won "Best Drama". The show was also recognized overseas at the 2nd Seoul Drama Festival where it was awarded "Best Miniseries". Ueno and Tamaki reprised their roles in 2007 in the two-part special, Nodame Cantabile Shinshun Special in Europe, which chronicles their individual struggles to achieve success on Europe's storied classical music stage whilst being away from each other.

In 2008, Ueno reunited with Nodame co-stars, Eita and Asami Mizukawa, in Fuji TV's drama, Last Friends, as Ruka Kishimoto, a talented motocross racer with a hidden secret she cannot discuss with friends or family. Taeko Asano, the screenwriter of Last Friends praised Ueno's acting of Ruka, stating that Ueno is a "natural genius" and that she became "the character itself".Ueno won "Best Supporting Actress" at the 12th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix and The 57th Television Drama Academy Awards for her role. She was recognised as "Best Student Voice Actress" at the 2008 MTV Student Voice Awards for her role in Wanko.

The Japanese version of Vogue named her as one of the "Women of the Year 2008".

On December 9, 2008, it was announced that Ueno would again reprise her role as "Nodame" in a new Nodame Cantabile two-movie sequel slated for release in 2010.Filming is set to start in May 2009.