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Mimi Miyagi

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Mimi Miyagi
Miyagi at the 2013 AVN Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas
Born
Melody Damayo[1][2]

(1973-07-03) July 3, 1973 (age 51)[3]
Davao City, Philippines[3][4]
Other namesMiyaki, Mimi Myagi, Myagi, Miyagi[3]
Height5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)[3]
Websitewww.mimimiyagi.com

Melody Damayo (born July 3, 1973[3]), known professionally as Mimi Miyagi, is a Filipino-American model, film director, and former pornographic actress.[1][4][5]

In 2011, Complex magazine ranked her at #12 in their list of "The Top 50 Hottest Asian Porn Stars of All Time".[2]

Early life and education

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Melody Damayo was born in Davao City,[4] the second of four children, to conservative Seventh-day Adventist parents. When she was six, she moved to the United States with her parents, and she grew up in California.[6]

Damayo went back to Mindanao for high school, and her family enrolled her in a Seventh-day Adventist academy (Mindanao Mission Academy)[4] in Misamis Oriental, hoping she would absorb Filipino values. After finishing high school, she enrolled in an Adventist college in Bukidnon, studying finance and economics at Mountain View College,[4] but she dropped out in her second year. She says she had been a disc jockey on the college radio station[4] and had decided on a career in show business.[6]

Damayo returned to Los Angeles[4] and obtained a scholarship to the American College for Fashion Merchandising, but, once again, she dropped out without graduating[4][7] when she had run out of money and began looking for jobs. By age 18, she had become a Certified Master Makeup Artist at the makeup artistry school at FOX studios in Hollywood.[4]

Adult film career and mainstream appearances

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She took some part-time gigs as a go-go dancer at an Asian nightclub in Beverly Hills, before transitioning into adult films and nude modeling.[4]

Damayo says she saw an advertisement for nude models and answered it. She took the name "Mimi", the childhood nickname given by her grandmother. "Miyagi" was derived from the character Mr. Miyagi in the film The Karate Kid,[2] although she has nothing to do with him. She says she cloaked her actual ethnicity in Asian mysticism.[6]

In 1996, she retired from adult film acting and moved to Henderson, Nevada. She married a former professional football player[not specific enough to verify]. She hired a consultant to set up a website (MimiMiyagi.com), then got embroiled in a legal battle over control of the domain name.[citation needed]

In 1998, she appeared in an America Undercover documentary entitled Strippers: The Naked Stages.[8]

She was the publisher of the erotic American Asian magazine Oriental Dolls[2][9] (now known as Asian Hotties).[4]

In 2001, after a divorce, she quietly dedicated herself to several humanitarian[10] and animal volunteer organizations.[4]

Nearly bankrupted by her divorce, in September 2003, "Mimi" came out of retirement and appeared in the adult film Happy Ending[3][4][5] (not to be confused with Happy Endings later released by Lions Gate Entertainment).

She again transitioned out of the adult film industry in 2007 and starting acting in mainstream movies like Little Bruno.[11] She also had a cameo role in the 2013 mainstream movie Speed Dragon.[4][12]

In 2012, she became a fashion reporter for Eyestrane, an online magazine focusing on Asian talent internationally.[4]

Political career

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Campaign poster, Nevada gubernatorial election, 2006.
Courtesy of Mimi Miyagi.
Main article: Nevada gubernatorial election, 2006

On May 12, 2006, she filed as a Republican gubernatorial candidate in the state of Nevada,[4] under her birth name Melody Damayo,[2] saying one of her priorities would be anti-stalking legislation.[1] "I have nothing left to hide, everybody has seen all of me already", she said. One of her slogans was "I'm bare and honest at all times."[5] Her candidacy came three years after fellow adult film star Mary Carey's campaign for Governor of California in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election. On May 16, 2006, her campaign was endorsed by the liberal blog Wonkette.[13]

She faced four other Republican candidates in the primary held on August 15, 2006 and was defeated by a wide margin by Jim Gibbons.[1] After her loss in the primaries, she joined the Libertarian Party.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Jimmy Carter's son wins primary". NBC News. August 16, 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
  2. ^ a b c d e Gabriel Alvarez (2011-09-19). "The Top 50 Hottest Asian Porn Stars of All Time". Complex. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "mimi miyagi". iafd.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "About Me – Mimi Miyagi Official Site". Mimimiyagi.com. 2006-05-12. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  5. ^ a b c Molly Ball (May 13, 2006). "Filing draws to a close: Last day for ballot bids brings out the usual unusuals". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b c Neumann, A Lin (July 1, 2006). "The Melody and Mimi show". Hong Kong Standard. Archived from the original on 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
  7. ^ Rampell, Ed (July 1, 2001). "Mimi Miyagi, P.I. (Philippine Islander, That Is)". AVN Online. Archived from the original on October 27, 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
  8. ^ "Strippers: The Naked Stages (1998)". IMDb. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  9. ^ Larry P. Gross; John Stuart Katz; Jay Ruby (2003). Image Ethics in the Digital Age. U of Minnesota Press. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-8166-3825-3. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  10. ^ "MLD Elementary School Mindanao Philippines". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  11. ^ Little Bruno (2007) – Full Cast & Crew – IMDb
  12. ^ Speed Dragon (2013) – Full Cast & Crew – IMDb
  13. ^ "Official Wonkette Endorsement: Melody "Mimi Miyagi" Damayo". Wonkette. May 16, 2006. Archived from the original on February 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
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