Draft:Ai Uehara

Ai Uehara (上原亜衣) is a Japanese model, YouTuber and former adult video (AV) idol.

Although she was only active in the industry for 5 years, Uehara quickly became known as one of Japan's most popular AV actresses, starring in over 1,000 works throughout her career and winning the Best Actress Platinum Award at the 2014 DMM Awards.

In 2015, Uehara announced that she would retire from the industry the following year. After a 3-year hiatus, Uehara re-emerged in 2019 as a full-time YouTuber.

Life and career
Born in Fukuoka and raised in Tokyo, Uehara made her debut in the AV industry in 2011 after being scouted at the age of 19. Her stage name was coined by her manager due to her resemblance to Takako Uehara and Ai Kato.

She was ranked number one in DMM's 2013 Annual AV Actress Ranking and in 2014 won the top prize of Best Actress Platinum Award at the DMM Awards. In 2015 she became a member of the musical idol group Ebisu Muscats and was also included in the video game Yakuza 0 after placing 3rd in an online popularity contest to determine which AV stars would have their digital likenesses featured in the game.

During an appearance at the AV Open awards show in November 2015, Uehara made a surprise announcement that she would retire from the AV industry the following spring. Uehara revealed that she had been considering retirement ever since winning the DMM Best Actress Platinum Award in 2014, saying that "from that day, I lost my bearings." Uehara made her final adult appearances at a three-week stripping residency in Tokyo in May 2016.

In June 2019, Uehara returned to social media after a 3-year hiatus and later launched a YouTube channel in August 2019.