Carrie Ann Inaba

Infobox actor
name = Carrie Ann Inaba


caption =
birthdate = January 5, 1968 (age 40)
birthplace = Honolulu, Hawaii

Carrie Ann Inaba (born January 5, 1968) is an American dancer, choreographer, actress, and singer.

Biography

Inaba was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her ethnic background is Japanese, Chinese and Irish. She is the younger of two children.

After graduating from Punahou School, she attended Sophia University, the University of California, Irvine and the University of California, Los Angeles and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in World Arts and Cultures.

Inaba studied choreography at UC-Irvine, mentoring under Alexandre Magno at the Debbie Reynolds Studios in North Hollywood.

Career

Inaba, who speaks fluent Japanese, lived in Tokyo from 1986 to 1988 and was a popular singer. She released three singles, "Party Girl" (backed with "China Blue"), "Be Your Girl" (backed with "6 1/2 Capezio"), and "Yume no Senaka" (backed with "Searching") and hosted weekly radio and television series.

After returning to America, Inaba appeared as one of the "Fly Girls," a group of backing dancers on the television series "In Living Color" from 1990 to 1992. She also performed with Canadian singer Norman Iceberg and dancers Viktor Manoel (David Bowie’s "Glass Spider" tour) and Luca Tommassini at Prince’s notorious Glam Slam.

In 1993, Inaba toured with Madonna as a dancer in the "The Girlie Show Tour". This required Inaba to do two things for the first time; shave her head bald and perform topless. Inaba appeared as the "Pole Girl" who danced and slid down a pole to open each show. Inaba also toured in Ricky Martin's "Living La Vida Loca" tour.

Inaba appeared in the film "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002) as Fook Yu, alongside Diane Mizota who played her twin sister Fook Mi. The two women are not related, but when Mizota had been cast for her role, she was asked if she knew any actresses who resembled her and suggested Inaba. Inaba, who had appeared briefly in "", was given the role and the two women were made up to appear as identical twins. Inaba and Mizota would later reprise their roles with Mike Myers in a commercial for Motorola.

Inaba has also acted (usually as a dancer) in the movies "Monster Mash: The Movie", "Lord of Illusions", "Showgirls", "Boys and Girls", "Flintstones II", "Freak" and "American Virgin" and the television series "Jack & Jill" and "Nikki".

Inaba has choreographed several television series, including "American Idol", "American Juniors", "All American Girl", "He's a Lady", "In Search of the Partridge Family" (in which she also appeared on air), "Married by America", "The Sexiest Bachelor in America Pageant", "The Swan", and "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?". She also choreographed the Miss America Pageant for five years.

Inaba is the founder and President of EnterMediArts, Inc., a video production company. She directs, writes, and edits films. Her work includes "E! Behind The Scenes Miss America Special", "7th Festival of the Pacific Arts", "A Portrait of IVI" and "Beyond the Dancing Image", along with the short feature film, "Black Water". She also appeared in the first season of "So You Think You Can Dance" during the audition stages where she provided choreography for the "choreography round".

Other TV appearances include Inaba as guest and co-host on The View, the ABC talent competition ', and the FOX special '.

"Dancing" Judge Controversy

No record can be found on any previous ballroom competitions or experience by Ms. Inaba at all, which has led many people to question her credibility for judging Dancing with the Stars, a Ballroom Dancing competition. :"She does not understand what ballroom dancing is. She's never done it herself."~Tony Dovolani to People magazine.

Dovolani's comments stem from Dancing with the Stars' live fifth-season performance episode on October 15, in which Inaba criticized several competing pairs -- including Tony Dovolani and Jane Seymour (actress), his celebrity partner -- for performing lifts, which are prohibited per the show's rules. Dovolani told People the moves he and Seymour performed during their waltz routine that week fall into a "gray area" that Inaba knows nothing about.

External links

* [http://www.carrieanninaba.tv/ Official Website of Carrie Ann]
*imdb name|id=0408336|name=Carrie Ann Inaba
* [http://television.aol.com/tv-celebrity-interviews/carrie-ann-inaba Carrie Ann Inaba interview]