Devon Edwenna Aoki is an American model and actress.
Early life Aoki was born in New York City, New York,
and grew up in California and London, attending high school at The American School in London.
Her Japanese father, Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki, a former wrestler, was the founder of the
Benihana restaurant chain and owned it until his death on July 10, 2008.
Her mother, Pamela Hilburger, is a jewelry designer and a painter of German and English
heritage.
She started modeling when she was 13, the same year Aoki was introduced by her godmother
to Kate Moss, who would later take the young model under her wing.
She was signed to Storm Model Management at age 14.
In 1998, at the age of 16, Aoki replaced Naomi Campbell as the face of Versace.
Career Aoki has modeled for the fashion houses Lancôme,
Chanel, Versace, despite her relatively short height for a runway model.
Aoki has done ad campaigns for Chanel Ready-to-Wear, Chanel Couture by Karl Lagerfeld, Versace
by Steven Meisel, YSL by Juergen Teller, Alessandro Dell'Acqua, Hugo Boss, Moschino, Ungaro, Fendi,
Junko Shimada by Bettina Kimenda, Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons, Lancome, Tiffanys and
co.
Early in her career, Aoki made cameo appearances in several music videos, including Duran Duran's
"Electric Barbarella", Primal Scream's "Kowalski", Elton John's "Something About the Way You
Look Tonight" and Ludacris' "Act a Fool".
Music from the latter video was featured in the soundtrack of 2 Fast 2 Furious, in which
both Ludacris and Aoki appeared.
In 2007, she made an appearance in The Killers' video "Bones".
Aoki has made a cameo appearance in the short films accompanying the Sean Lennon album,
Friendly Fire.
She also played Anna in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead.
Her acting career includes films like 2 Fast 2 Furious, D.E.B.S., Sin City, Dead or Alive,
War and Mutant Chronicles.
She did not have her driver's license prior to filming 2 Fast 2 Furious and had to learn
to drive during filming.
She will be appearing as Tatsu Yamashiro in Arrow season 3.
Aoki has joined L.A.'s International Creative Management for representation and The Firm
for management.
Aoki has been on the cover of I-D magazine three times.
She was also the face of Lancome cosmetics for four years.
Aoki posed for Singaporean photographer Leslie Kee for Kee's 2006 charity photo-book "Super
Stars", dedicated to the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster, which consists of
photographs of 300 Asian celebrities by Kee.
The same year, Aoki posed for photographer Marc Baptiste’s book Nudes wearing a dress.
In September 2007, it was announced she was designing a jeans line for Levi's Asian market.
Aoki made a return to the runway, walking for the Chanel Pre-Fall 2008 show in London
and the couture show in Paris where she was the bride.
She is signed to 1/One Management New York, d-Management, and City.
Personal life Her half-brother, Steve Aoki, is a Los Angeles
DJ and the founder of Dim Mak Records.
As of January 2011, Aoki was engaged to James Bailey.
She gave birth to their first child, Hunter, in June 2011.
On February 12, 2013, Aoki gave birth to a girl named Alessandra Linville Bailey with
husband James Bailey.
Filmography References
External links Devon Aoki at the Internet Movie Database
Devon Aoki at AllMovie