There is provided a liquid crystal display unit including a liquid crystal panel for modulating light; a light shielding plate for controlling light not to be incident on areas other than an effective pixel area of the liquid crystal panel; an optical compensation element arranged at sides on which the light is incident in the liquid crystal panel and the light shielding plate; and an optical compensation element holder for holding the optical compensation element to be spaced from the light shielding plate and not to contact other members.