- Mimi Miyagi
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Mimi Miyagi 
Born Melody Damayo
July 3, 1973
Davao City, PhilippinesAlias(es) Mimi Miyagi Height 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) Eye colour Brown Hair colour Black Ethnicity Filipina Official website Melody Damayo (born July 3, 1973) is a Filipina porn star best known as Mimi Miyagi.
Contents
Early life and education
Melody Damayo was born in Davao City, the second of four children born 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.[1]
Damayo was sent back to Mindanao for high school, and her family enrolled her in a Seventh Day Adventist academy in Bukidnon, hoping she would absorb Filipino values.[1]
After finishing high school, she enrolled in an Adventist college, but she dropped out in her second year. She says she had been a disc jockey on the college radio station and had decided on a career in show business.[1]
Damayo returned to Los Angeles and obtained a scholarship to the American College for Fashion Merchandising, but once again she dropped out without graduating,[2] when she'd run out of money and begun looking for jobs.
As she was now of legal age, she began performing as a pornographic actress, starting by working with Ed Powers.[2]
Adult film career
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. She says she cloaked her actual nationality in Asian mysticism.[1]
In 1996, she retired from porn acting and moved to Henderson, Nevada. She married a former professional football player. She hired a consultant to set up a website, MimiMiyagi.com, then got embroiled in a legal battle over control of the domain name. She then learned HTML and created a new website.
She created the men's magazine Oriental Dolls (now known as Asian Hotties).
In 1999, Damayo began doing movie production and talent scouting for Metro Home Video and produced the series she entitled FantAsiany, of which there are now three sequels.
Mainstream films
Nearly bankrupted by her divorce, in September 2003, "Mimi" came out of retirement, and appeared in the adult film Happy Ending (not to be confused with Happy Endings later released by Lions Gate Entertainment).
In May 2005, Damayo began work in her first bit role in a mainstream comedy, Come Again.
In December 2006, "Mimi" returned to adult films with great fanfare after her failed run on the Republican ticket for Governor of Nevada.
Political career
Main article: Nevada gubernatorial election, 2006On May 12, 2006, she filed as a Republican gubernatorial candidate in the state of Nevada, under her birth name, Melody Damayo. "I have nothing left to hide, everybody has seen all of me already." she said. One of her slogan was "I'm bare and honest at all times.[3]" Her candidacy came three years after fellow porn star Mary Carey's campaign for Governor of California in the 2003 recall election. On May 16, 2006, her campaign was endorsed by the liberal blog Wonkette.[4] She was criticized for running for such a position, given her past profession. She faced four other Republican candidates in the primary held on August 15, 2006, and was defeated by a wide margin by Jim Gibbons.[5] After her loss in the primaries, she joined the Libertarian Party.
References
- ^ a b c d Neumann, A Lin (July 1, 2006). "The Melody and Mimi show". Hong Kong Standard. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/weekend_news_detail.asp?pp_cat=31&art_id=21931&sid=8584445&con_type=3&d_str=20060701. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
- ^ a b Rampell, Ed (July 1, 2001). "Mimi Miyagi, P.I. (Philippine Islander, That Is)". AVN Online. http://www.avnonline.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Editorial&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=187917. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
- ^ "Filing draws to a close". Las Vegas Review-Journal. May 13, 2006. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-13-Sat-2006/news/7389806.html. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
- ^ "Official Wonkette Endorsement: Melody "Mimi Miyagi" Damayo". Wonkette. May 16, 2006. http://www.wonkette.com/politics/endorsements/official-wonkette-endorsement-melody-mimi-miyagi-damayo-174187.php. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
- ^ "Jimmy Carter's son wins primary". MSNBC. August 16, 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14358246. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
External links
- Mimi Miyagi's Homepage
- Campaign website
- Melody Damayo collected Wonkette articles and interviews about her gubernatorial campaign
- Mimi Miyagi video interview on burntwire.tv
- Mimi Miyagi short documentary feature video on Philippine news website GMANews.TV
- Mimi Miyagi at the Internet Movie Database
- Mimi Miyagi at the Internet Adult Film Database
- Mimi Miyagi at the Adult Film Database
Categories:- 1973 births
- Living people
- American actor–politicians
- American female adult models
- American libertarians
- American people of Filipino descent
- American pornographic film actors
- American pornographic film actors of Asian descent
- Female pornographic film actors
- American politicians of Filipino descent
- Filipino female adult models
- Filipino emigrants to the United States
- Nevada Libertarians
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- People from Davao
- Pornographic film actors from California
- Nevada Republicans
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