Rina Kawaei

 is a Japanese actress and former singer. She is a former member of team A of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. She was also in a group called Anrire with AKB48 members Anna Iriyama and Rena Katō; they were featured in Rino Sashihara's single "Ikujinashi Masquerade", which charted at number one in the Japanese Oricon weekly singles chart.
Career.
2012 – May 2014.
Kawaei auditioned for AKB48 and was selected to join the seventh "kenkyūsei" (trainee) generation (11th AKB48 generation overall) in July 2010.
In March 2012, she was promoted to Team 4, and was transferred to Team A in August. Soon after the TV series "Shiritsu Bakaleya Kōkō" ended on June 30, it was announced that Kawaei would participate in its film adaptation. The movie would star several members from the groups Johnny's Jr. and AKB48.
In 2013, during a broadcast of a special episode of the comedy show "Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!", it was announced that Kawaei would perform as center in a song of the special unit BKA48 that will be included on AKB48's single "Sayonara Crawl" to be released in May.
At the 2013 AKB48 general election, she placed 25th with 26,764 votes, and thus gained a place as an Under Girl for the next single "Koi Suru Fortune Cookie".
Attack.
On May 25, 2014, during an event held at the Iwate Industry Culture & Convention Center in Takizawa, Iwate, she, along with Anna Iriyama and a staff member were attacked by a 24-year-old man wielding a handsaw, who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. All three victims suffered wounds including bone fractures on their fingers (reportedly, Kawaei's right thumb and Iriyama's right little finger were both fractured and cut, and the girls also suffered wounds to their heads), and were taken to a hospital for surgery. The event, as well as all other group activities on that day, were halted.
June 2014 – present.
At AKB48's 2014 general election she placed 16th with 39,120 votes and thus gained a place in the promotional line-up for the next single "Kokoro no Placard".
On March 26, 2015, she announced that she would be leaving the group. She had her graduation ceremony during AKB48's Summer Concert in Saitama Super Arena on August 2 and had her last stage performance on August 4, 2015.
In November 2015, it was announced that she would star with Mitsuki Takahata in an NHK Morning Drama .
She made her debut voice role in the anime film , voicing Minifaruru, the younger sister of Faruru.
On May 17, 2019, Kawaei announced her pregnancy and her marriage to actor Tomoki Hirose, and said she will still try to continue to work in the entertainment industry.