Erika Sawajiri 沢尻エリカ ,is a 20 year old, Tokyo born actress, Jpop singer and gravure idol. In her singing career she goes by the name “Kaoru Amane“. She is half Japanese and half French Algerian. Erika began modelling for junior fashion magazines like CUTIE and NICOLA when she was a teenager and in 2001 she won the Grand Prize for that year’s Seikore and became a regular on the news program Harajuku Launchers. She has since gone on into TV dramas, movies, photobooks, DVDs and a music career. Her last two TV dramas Ichi Rittoru no Namida(1 litre of Tears) and Taiyou no Uta were big hits for her. Along with other actresses, Masami Nagawasa, Maki Horikita, Juri Ueno and Haruka Ayase, Erika is being hailed as one of new wave of young actresses on Japanese TV.