Akiho Yoshizawa

Akiho Yoshizawa (吉沢 明歩), often known simply as Acky (あっきー), is a Japanese actress and former adult video (AV) actress, who also appeared in pink film and mainstream (non-erotic) film, as well as television.

With a career spanning over more than 15 years and over 1,000 adult film appearances, Yoshizawa was widely renowned as one of the most famous and recognizable faces in Japanese adult entertainment, with an appeal that managed to cross over into mainstream entertainment.

Yoshizawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, on March 3, 1984, and made her first appearance as a gravure idol in the Kodansha company's Young Magazine (ヤングマガジン) in 2002.

She started her AV career in 2003 with the companies Alice Japan and Max-A, and in 2007 she transitioned to studios Maxing and S1 No. 1 Style appearing along with other famous AV actresses like Yuma Asami, Mihiro, Sola Aoi or Megu Fujiura.

In February 2003 she posed for gravure photos by Hiroyuki Yoshida (吉田 裕之) released as the photobook Akiho (あきほ) (ISBN 978-4754215507).

A month later, Yoshizawa made her AV debut in March 2003 under contract to two studios, Alice Japan and Max-A.

Her first video as an AV performer, Angel, was released by the Alice Japan label in March 2003.

Her second video 18-Teens was made for the Max-A Samansa in April 2003, and she continued alternating performances between the two studios through the middle of 2006, usually making one movie a month.

Among her early videos was the July 2003 incest-themed My Sister Is an AV Idol for Alice Japan directed by sometimes-mainstream director Rokurō Mochizuki.

For her work in her first year in AV, Yoshizawa was nominated for the Best New Actress Award at the 2003 X City Grand Prix Awards

In addition to her hardcore AV videos, Yoshizawa has also appeared on TV and in mainstream movies and softcore V-Cinema and pink films, including the August 2004 horror movie Koibone, which was later released as a DVD by Taki [THD-14161] in June 2005, and the December 2004 pink film Picture Book of a Beautiful Young Girl: Soaked Uniform.

Yoshizawa's TV appearances include the TV Tokyo production Jōō (嬢王), which aired in 12 episodes from October to December 2005.

Fellow AV Idol Sora Aoi was also in the show.

She also starred in the 2005 pink film Fascinating Young Hostess: Sexy Thighs, which was ranked as the Best Film of the year at the 2006 Pink Grand Prix.

Yoshizawa won the third Best Actress award at the same ceremony for her role in the movie.

Along with two other idols, Mihiro and Kaho Kasumi, Yoshizawa also ventured into another medium with the 2005 UMD format video English Cram School where the three actresses give lessons in English.

The softcore video, published as GBTU-002 by Success, is for the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP).

In an interview, Yoshikawa said she first met the director of the movie, Tetsuya Takehora, when he directed her in a V-cinema production Erotic Fountain (エロビアの泉) for the TMC studio in 2006.

She was given a Best Actress award for her work in the pink film genre at the 2006 Pinky Ribbon Awards.

Another PSP video and game was the December 2006 All Star Yakyuken Battle, a striptease version of "yakyuken" or "rock-paper-scissors" where Yoshizawa joined with AV actresses An Nanba, Kaho Kasumi, Kaede Matsushima, Mihiro, Ran Asakawa, Rei Amami, Sora Aoi and Yua Aida.

The game and video were released for the PSP and in Blu-ray for the PS3.

In 2006 Yoshizawa starred in The Inner Palace: Indecent War, a historical costume drama set in the Edo period, released by Max-A under the DoraMax label in July 2006.

In addition to the hardcore video (labeled DMX-001), the movie was also released in a shorter softcore R-15 rated version (Pure Max PMX-005).

A sequel The Inner Palace: Flower of War was also released in hardcore (DoraMax DMX-002) and softcore (Pure Max PMX-006) versions.

By the end of 2006 Yoshizawa was no longer making adult videos for Alice Japan and Max-A and began working for two new AV companies, Maxing and S1 No. 1 Style.

She appeared in her first video for the new start-up studio Maxing, Sell Debut Love Acky, in that company's first set of videos released on October 16, 2006.

She debuted with S1 in January 2007 with Hyper-Risky Mosaic Akiho Yoshizawa directed by Hideto Aki.

She has been active with both studios since, appearing in about one movie a month for both studios.

Yoshizawa's work in AV for the 2007 year was acknowledged by several awards.

One of her S1 videos, the May 2007 release Hyper Risky Mosaic - Special Bath House Tsubaki, featuring S1 stars Sora Aoi, Honoka, Yuma Asami and eight others was the studio's entry for the 2007 AV Open contest where it took the 1st Place Award.

Yoshizawa also won the Best Actress Award at the 2007 Vegas Night and her S1 video Hyper-Risky Mosaic Akiho Yoshizawa took the 2nd Place Award.

In another media, she was a nominee for the Best Actress Award for her 2007 appearances on adult Channel 902 (Midnight Blue) on satellite TV broadcaster SKY PerfecTV! at the 2008 Adult Broadcasting Awards ceremonies.

In another genre, Yoshizawa played the female ninja (kunoichi) Kasumi in the erotic action V-Cinema September 2007 release Lady Ninja Kasumi Vol.4 (Kasumi: Tanjou! Sarutobi Sasuke) based on a manga by Youji Kanbayashi and Jin Hirano.

She was also a member of the idol group Ebisu Muscats between 2008 and 2013.

The next year, at the December 2008 Moodyz Awards, a competition among 37 AV production companies sponsored by Japan's largest AV distributor, the Hokuto Corporation, she won the 2nd Place award for Best Actress.

From April 2008 she was a cast regular on the late night TV Osaka variety show Please Muscat (おねがい マスカット), which also included other S1 actresses such as Sora Aoi, Yuma Asami, Rio (Tina Yuzuki) and Mihiro singing and performing comedy skits.

She was a member of the first incarnation of the idol group Ebisu Muscats between 2008 and 2013.

Yoshizawa returned in a special guest appearance in the 2009 sequel to the show Jōō Virgin (嬢王　Virgin).

Her tenure at S1 also marked the beginning of her close friendship with Yuma Asami as the pair went on to co-star several films over the next few years (until Asami's retirement from AV in 2015).

Yoshizawa announced her retirement from AV in late 2018, and her final adult films were released in March 2019.