Yu Aoi, born August 17, 1985, is a Japanese actress and model. She made her film debut as Shiori Tsuda in Shunji Iwai's 2001 film All About Lily Chou-Chou. She subsequently portrayed Tetsuko Arisugawa in Hana and Alice (2004), also directed by Iwai, Kimiko Tanigawa in the hula dancing film Hula Girls and Hagumi Hanamoto in the 2006 live-action adaptation of the popular Honey and Clover manga series.

She has won numerous awards for her performances on screen, including the prestigious Japan Academy Prize and Kinema Junpo Awards for best supporting actress in 2007 for Hula Girls and Rookie of the Year for continued performances in the field of Films in Media and Fine Arts by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan in 2009.

Aoi has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Japan Academy Prize for best supporting actress in 2007, for her portrayal of Kimiko Tanigawa in Hula Girls, for which she was critically acclaimed.

During the same year, she also received both the Blue Ribbon Award and the Yokohama Film Festival award for best actress, both for her performance in Hula Girls and her portrayal of Hagumi Hanamoto in the Honey and Clover live action movie. She also received the Hochi Film Award, the Kinema Junpo Award and the Mainichi Film Concours for best supporting actress for her performances in Hula Girls, Honey and Clover and Rainbow Song. She also received the Nikkan Sports Film Award for best new talent for her performance in Hula Girls.

Earlier, in 2005, she had also won the Japanese Professional Movie Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Tetsuko (Alice) Arisugawa in Hana and Alice.