Hirano Aya, from Aichi Prefecture, is a Japanese seiyuu and J-pop singer who has had roles in several anime, visual novels, and TV commercials in Japan. She is contracted to Grick. Until August 2011, she was contracted to Space Craft Entertainment, a branch of Space Craft Group for her voice acting career. For her singing career, she was signed under Lantis until May 2011. Her blood type is O.
Aya spent a few of her very early years of life in America before returning to Japan. In 1998, she joined the Tokyo Child Theatrical Group division of the Space Craft Group company. Eventually, she began to appear in commercials and got her first role as a seiyuu in Tenshi no Shippo. From 2002-2003 she was a member of the short-lived girl band SpringS.
After graduating from high school, she began seriously pursuing her seiyuu and solo singing career. Her big break came in 2006, when she was cast as the voice of Suzumiya Haruhi, the title character of the anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The show's public success has greatly enhanced her popularity and career in Japan. Her CD single Bouken Desho Desho? containing the opening song of the show sold out in Japan the very day it was released. This success was followed by her voicing two lead characters in anime based on popular manga (Reira in Nana and Misa in Death Note). Her popularity was confirmed at the first Seiyuu Awards, where she won "Best Newcomer (female)", for her role as Suzumiya Haruhi; the same role also won her a nomination as "Best Main Character (female)". At the same awards, she was also nominated for "Best Supporting Character (female)", and earned two nominations for "Best Single" (One of which is a solo, Bouken Desho Desho; the other was a group nomination for the single Hare Hare Yukai). In 2008, she won the "Best Main Character (female)" award at the second Seiyuu Awards.
She performed at the "Animelo Summer Live" concerts between 2006 and 2008, as well as the Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou concert on March 18, 2007.
Hirano Aya was a guest at Anime Expo 2007, along with other cast members from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Chihara Minori and Gotou Yuuko. In 2007, she continued to enjoy great success in her career, landing the role of Izumi Konata in the anime version of Lucky Star and launching three separate single albums back-to-back monthly at year's end.
