Biography
Who is Mimi Miyagi?
Early life and real name
Melody Damayo was born on July 3, 1973, in Davao City. She was born as the second child of four. Her parents were Seventh-day Adventists with conservative views. At age six, she moved to the United States and grew up in California.
She returned to Mindanao to attend high school. She went to the Mindanao Mission Academy located in Misamis Oriental. Her family wanted her to learn Filipino values there. Later, she studied finance and economics at Mountain View College in Bukidnon. She left that college in her second year. She spent time as a radio disc jockey while studying.
How Mimi became famous
After college, she moved back to Los Angeles. She got a scholarship to the American College for Fashion Merchandising. She dropped out of the program because she lacked money. At 18, she wanted to be a makeup artist.
Mimi worked as a go-go dancer at an Asian nightclub in Beverly Hills. She eventually saw an ad for nude models and applied. She took the name Mimi because her grandmother used it as a childhood nickname. She added Miyagi after a character in the movie The Karate Kid. This name helped her create a persona based on Asian mysticism.
Career shifts and movies
Mimi Miyagi stopped acting in adult films in 1996. She moved to Henderson, Nevada, and married a former professional football player. She started a website but fought a legal battle over the domain name. In 1998, she was featured in a documentary called Strippers: The Naked Stages. She also published the magazine Oriental Dolls.
Following a divorce in 2001, she volunteered for animal and humanitarian organizations. She returned to adult films in September 2003 for the movie Happy Ending. She left that industry again in 2007. Mimi then acted in mainstream movies like Little Bruno and Speed Dragon. By 2012, she became a fashion reporter for Eyestrane.
Political campaign in Nevada
On May 12, 2006, she ran for governor of Nevada. She used her birth name, Melody Damayo, for the campaign. She ran as a member of the Republican Party. Her main goal was to create anti-stalking laws. She told the public she had nothing to hide.
The blog Wonkette endorsed her on May 16, 2006. She faced four other Republicans in the primary on August 15, 2006. Jim Gibbons won the primary by a wide margin. After this defeat, she joined the Libertarian Party.
Birthday and age
Mimi Miyagi was born on July 3, 1973, which makes Mimi 53 years old today. That birthday falls under the Cancer sign. Mimi shares the date with 23 other famous people.
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