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Aya Irizuki was born July 6, 1983 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. After receiving ballet lessons at an early age, she began learning the Japanese expressive dance Butoh in 2001. From 2002 to 2006 she studied art at the University of the Arts in Tokyo.
Irizuki became famous in Germany for her leading role as a wise geisha in Doris Dörrie's "Kirschblüten - Hanami" ("Cherry Blossoms", 2007). Inspired by this experience, she started studying acting at the International School Of Corporeal Mime in London, graduating in 2012. Her main field of activity, however, remained (and remains) dance. In 2008 she appeared as a solo dancer in the concert production "Ensemble Origin Japan" at New York's Carnegie Hall; she has also appeared in Geneva, Athens and Berlin.
In 2014 Irizuki came to Germany permanently on a scholarship from the Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation. With her Butoh solo shows she celebrated successes in Berlin and Munich. In addition, she has had various appearances in the USA, Turkey and Japan.
As a film actress Aya Irizuki worked together with Doris Dörrie two more times: In the melancholic friendship story "Grüße aus Fukushima" ("Greetings from Fukushima", 2016) she played an important supporting role as a dancer and daughter of the Japanese main character. For "Kirschblüten & Dämonen" (2019), a sequel to "Kirschblüten - Hanami", she again took on the role of the clever Geisha Yu.