is a Jpop singer, actress, and former radio host. She is a member of the group Speed

Speed (band)

Speed is an Okinawan female vocal/dance group comprising Hiroko Shimabukuro, Eriko Imai, Takako Uehara and Hitoe Arakaki. All four members are former students of Okinawa Actors School which also trained popular artists Namie Amuro and MAX.Speed made their major label debut on August 5, 1996 and...

. Uehara was born in Okinawa, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

Her highly anticipated first solo single 'My First Love' was released in January 1999, and was produced by legendary pop/rock superstar Ryuichi Kawamura

Ryuichi Kawamura

is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor and record producer. He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea. After the group disbanded in 2000, Ryuichi went on to a successful solo career. In 2005 he formed Tourbillon with, fellow Luna Sea member, Inoran and Hiroaki Hayama...

 (of Luna Sea

Luna Sea

Luna Sea is a rock band from Kanagawa, Japan, formed in 1989. The band was initially founded by bassist J and rhythm guitarist Inoran, when they were in high school. They soon recruited lead guitarist and violinist Sugizo, drummer Shinya and vocalist Ryuichi, a lineup that has remained the same...

).
"My First Love" was the beginning of a prosperous collaboration between Uehara and Kawamura.
The single itself was very successful and topped the charts selling over 500,000 copies. The promotional video along with the cover and leaflet photos for 'My First Love' were all shot on location in Hawaii. Uehara followed up with her second and third singles, 'Come Close to Me' and 'My Greatest Memories'. In July 2000 following the disbandment of Speed, she became the first member of the group to release a solo album: My First Wing.

After Speed, Uehara continued with a moderately successful solo career as well as acting in various TV dramas. Takako is also a highly sought after model endorsing many famous brands such as Shiseido

Shiseido

is a major Japanese hair care and cosmetics producer. It is the oldest cosmetics company in the world and the fourth largest cosmetics company in the world.-History:...

 mainly on Proudia & Tsubaki Shampoo, Dunlop Tyres

Dunlop Tyres

Dunlop Tyres is a British company owned 75% by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and 25% by Sumitomo Rubber Industries, which bought the right to sell Dunlop-branded road tyres....

, NTT

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone

, commonly known as NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ranked the 31st in Fortune Global 500, NTT is the largest telecommunications company in Asia, and the second-largest in the world in terms of revenue....

 DoCoMo

DoCoMo

DoCoMo is a trademark of the NTT DoCoMo corporation of Japan, used in its home market and in India in partnership with Tata Teleservices. It is an acronym of the phrase "Do communications over the mobile network."See also the following mobile phone operators:...

, FujiFilm

Fujifilm

is a multinational photography and imaging company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.Fujifilm's principal activities are the development, production, sale and servicing of color photographic film, digital cameras, photofinishing equipment, color paper, photofinishing chemicals, medical imaging...

 FinePix Camera, SAGAWA, FamilyMart

FamilyMart

is a convenience store franchise chain first opened in Japan on September 1, 1981. FamilyMart is Japan's third largest convenience store chain, behind 7-Eleven and Lawson, and the largest chain store in South Korea. FamilyMart is owned and overseen by FamilyMart Company, Limited...

, KC Card, Meiji

Meiji Seika

is the trade name of a pharmaceutical company in Japan, , until March 31, 2011.It was the confectionery and pharmaceutical company that manufactures a wide range of products including Hello Panda and Yan Yan...

 Chocolate, NEC FOMA

Foma

Foma may refer to:* FOMA , a Japanese mobile telecommunications service* Sergei Fomenko, nicknamed "Foma", Ukrainian musician...

 and other food & beverages. Her most popular campaign was when she teamed up with Vivian Hsu to promote Shiseido's 'Proudia' range of products aimed at the more youthful market.

Uehara has also been a favorite pinup model among teenage men. She has released three photobooks. The first being '17' which was released in the year 2000. Her second photobook was Vingt Takako (Vingt means 20 in French). Vingt Takako was extremely controversial as the book contained many semi-nude and erotic shots of her - some containing rather explicit poses. This book upset and surprised many of her loyal fans as she has often came across as being really innocent. However, Uehara assured that the photos were tastefully done and shot on location in France by an all female crew. Uehara's third photobook Veintitres (meaning 23 in Spanish) was of similar nature to Vingt Takako but contained less daring photos of her. Veintitres was shot on location in Mexico, this time with a mixed crew. The photobook contained a bonus 'making of DVD'. Uehara's has a special preference for her photographs to be taken with minimal make-up and cpu touch-up/alterations. In essence her pictures tend contain a rather ambivalent tone to them in which she tends to come across rather natural/pale looking.

Uehara was selected by Taiwanese singer, Leehom Wang, to be the female lead for his music video, 'Heartbeat'. This is the 1st collaboration between the both of them.

Singles

1. "my first love" (1999-03-25)
2. "Come close to me" (1999-09-29)
3. "my greatest memories" (2000-04-19)
4. "SWEET DREAMS" (2001-04-18)
5. (2002-03-13)
6. (2002-05-22)
7. "Air" (2002-09-19)
8. "Make-up Shadow" (2003-03-12)
9. (2004-02-25)
10. "Galaxy Legend/Ladybug" (2004-10-20)

Albums

1. first wing (2000-07-26）
2. pupa (2003-03-26)
3. depart ～takako uehara single collection～ (2007-03-14)

DVDs / Videos

1. MY FIRST WING (2000-09-27)(video)
2. TAKAKO UEHARA ON REEL-CLIPS&MORE (2003-03-19)(DVD)

Photobooks

1. 17 (2000-10-10)
2. vingt Takako (2003-01-14)
3. Veintitres (2006-02-14)

Drama(s)

1. 1999.4-6NTV 「蘇る金狼」
2. 2000.10 CX 「ナースのお仕事 3」 20話ゲスト
3. 2000.10-12NTV 「新宿 暴走救急隊」
4. 2001.7NTV系 「ビューティ 7 （セブン）」 (Beauty 7)
5. 2002.1 NTV系 「ナースマン」
6. 2002.5.16CX 「青（ブルー）に恋して！ ～サッカー通と4人の美女の物語～ 第4ゲスト
7. 2002.10.1CX 「フライングボーイズ」
8. 2003.9.29NHK 連続テレビ小説「てるてる家族」
9. 2004.4.6NTV系 「ナースマンSPECIAL」
10. 2004.4.10NTV系 「東京ワンダーホテル」
11. 2004.7.24NTV系 「東京ワンダーホテル」
12. 2006.9.7 NHK系 「ちいさこべ」
13. The Fugitive: Plan B
    The Fugitive: Plan B
    The Fugitive: Plan B is a South Korean action television drama series broadcast by KBS in 2010.-Production and casting:...
    
     (KBS, 2010)

Movie(s)

1. 1998 「Andromedia」Together with 3 other Speed
   Speed (band)
   Speed is an Okinawan female vocal/dance group comprising Hiroko Shimabukuro, Eriko Imai, Takako Uehara and Hitoe Arakaki. All four members are former students of Okinawa Actors School which also trained popular artists Namie Amuro and MAX.Speed made their major label debut on August 5, 1996 and...
   
    members Hiroko Shimabukuro
   Hiroko Shimabukuro
   Hiroko Shimabukuro , best known mononymously as hiro, is a Japanese singer. She debuted as a member of the popular girl group Speed in 1996. In 1998, hiro released her first solo song "Mitsumete Itai" as a B-side to Speed's single "All My True Love"...
   
   , Eriko Imai
   Eriko Imai
   is a Japanese pop artist. She made her debut in the early 1990s as part of the group Speed which disbanded in March 2000. Eriko began her work away from Speed during 1998, performing "Tsumetaku Shinai de", under the stage name "Eriko with Crunch", on the Speed single "All My True Love"...
   
   , and Hitoe Arakaki
   Hitoe Arakaki
   is the oldest member of the Japanese pop group Speed, which disbanded in 2000 and reformed in 2009. She was born in Okinawa, Japan, and is also known purely by her first name, Hitoe...
   
   .
2. 1999.10「ドリームメーカー」東映系
3. 2002.7「デジモンフロンティア　古代デジモン復活」東洋アニメフェア　声優初挑戦
4. 2004.7劇場版　ポケットモンスターアドバンスジェネレーション

架空の訪問者　デオキシス」声優

1. 2011 Koitanibashi

Musical(s)

1. 2005.11.03 ~ 11.27 LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
2. 2008.02.06 ~ 02.28 The Wedding Singer

External links

• Official website
• Official Blog
• Takako Uehara on Twitter
  Twitter
  Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...