Ai Takahashi is a Japanese pop singer who made her name in the Hello! Project universe. She's best known for leading Morning Musume during a major era of the group, and fans often remember her time in the hugely popular subunit Minimoni. She joined Morning Musume back in 2001 as part of the fifth generation auditions, eventually climbing her way up to become the group's leader in 2009. She held that position—plus leadership of the entire Hello! Project umbrella—until handing things over to Niigaki Risa in September 2011. At that point, she'd been the longest-serving leader the organization had seen.

After stepping back from the pop idol world, Takahashi shifted gears to pursue acting, which had been a longtime goal for her.