Devon Aoki

Aoki was born in New York City and grew up in California, attending The American School in London in Westminster. Her Japanese American father, Rocky Aoki, a former Olympic wrestler, is the owner and founder of the Benihana restaurant chain. Her mother, Pamela Hilburger, is a jewellery designer of English and German heritage.

Aoki was discovered in New York at a Rancid concert she had gatecrashed. She started modeling when she was 13, the same year Aoki was introduced to supermodel Kate Moss by her godmother who would later take the young Devon under her wing. Moss pushed for Aoki to be signed, and she was signed onto Storm Model Management at age 14.

"And then I guess from being in New York, I did this photograph for Interview Magazine called "Lovely Rita." My agency says that Kate Moss brought the picture in and told them that they should, you know, sign me. And then it happened, and then in my early career we did a lot of jobs together. She was a big help to me when I first started."

In 1998, at the age of 16, Devon replaced Naomi Campbell as the face of Versace. An A-grade student at school, Devon chose not to go on to university, believing that working and travelling offered her a 'broader and deeper education' than a degree.

Career
Aoki has modeled for the fashion houses Lancôme, Chanel, and Versace. Aoki is 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) — an almost unheard of height for runway models, who are usually at least 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) height. Aoki has done ad campaigns for Chanel Couture by Karl Lagerfeld, Versace Atelier by Steven Meisel, Junko Shimada by Bettina Kimenda and Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons.


Early on in her career Aoki made cameo appearances in several music videos, including Duran Duran's "Electric Barbarella", Primal Scream's "Kowalski" (With Kate Moss), Elton John's "Something About the Way You Look Tonight", Ginuwine's "In Those Jeans" video and, later, in Ludacris's "Act a Fool". Music from this video was featured in the soundtrack of 2 Fast 2 Furious, which Ludacris and Aoki both appeared in. In 2006, she made an appearance in The Killers's video "Bones". Aoki has also made a cameo appearance in the short films accompanying the new Sean Lennon album, Friendly Fire.

Her acting career includes films like 2 Fast 2 Furious, D.E.B.S., Sin City, Dead or Alive and War. She did not have her driver's license prior to filming 2 Fast 2 Furious and had to learn to drive during filming.

Aoki has a role in the 2008 Simon Hunter film called The Mutant Chronicles. The story is set 400 years into the future (23rd or 24th century). The movie is described as a futuristic Saving Private Ryan set in a world where nearly everything is powered by steam.

Aoki has joined L.A.'s International Creative Management for representation and The Firm for management. Aoki plans on launching her own clothing line, and has signed on to New York entrepreneur Richie Akiva's record label, where she will cut her own album.


Aoki was on the cover of I-D magazine in July 2007 alongside Jeremy Scott. Aoki posed for renowned 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. Also in 2007, Aoki posed for photographer Marc Baptiste’s book Nudes, however she has stated that she was wearing a dress.

"It's funny. People have been saying that, and I saw the book. I'm the only person in the book who is wearing clothes. I'm wearing a dress. I'm like 'why am I in this book?' because it's nudes and I'm not nude at all. I'm wearing a dress. I don't think I knew it was for a nude book, because I was wearing clothes and that doesn't work with the whole concept. I had shot with that photographer and he probably wanted to use the pictures and I'm sure my management OK'd the pictures because I was clothed, so that is not actually true."

She has appeared in many magazine covers, books and articles. Aoki has also appeared in The Cobrasnake website's party photos among other celebrities.

In September 2007, it was announced she was designing jeans line for Levi's. "One of the coolest designs is an adjustable zip waist you can tighten with an elegant clasp closure," she told to reporters. The line was only available in Asia.


Aoki recently made a return to the runway, walking for the Chanel Pre-Fall 2008 show in London. She is signed to One Model Management (owned by her mother) New York, d-Management Milan and City Paris.

Personal life
Aoki lives on her own in Los Angeles, and keeps her personal life private. But she is often seen alongside major hip hop and Hollywood men at high-profile social functions and movie premieres. She has dated Lenny Kravitz and Rick Salomon (also known from Paris Hilton's sex tape).

She is interested in writing poetry, playing the drums and hanging out with her two pet snakes.

Her father once admitted that he had 'three kids from three different women at exactly the same time'. In 2006, her father sued four of his children for an alleged attempt to take control of the companies he founded (estimated to be worth between 60 million and 100 million). Devon is excluded from this because she is not involved in the family business and because, in her father's words, she is his 'favorite' and 'very smart' and he is proud of her success.


Her brother, Steve Aoki, is a well-known Los Angeles, California DJ, and is the founder of the Dim Mak Records. Devon also has a half brother, Kevin Aoki, who owns several Japanese restaurants, including that of their father's. Kevin Aoki is married to Nai-Wen Hu and has one daughter, Sky Ai Aoki. Devon also has two other sisters, Grace and Echo, and half brother Cole Price.