mimi

Mimi Miyagi (Melody Damayo) was born in Davao City, the Philippines on July 3, 1973, the second of four children to immigrant parents Mike Ariesgado and Luz Damayo. As a child, Mimi was something of a prodigy. She spent her childhood studying piano and dreaming of becoming an Olympic gymnast. At the age of 15 she graduated from high school. After graduating, she began working to save money for college.

She returned to LA just before her 18th birthday with a little over $1,000 to her name. At that time, she thought that this money would be enough to last her several months. This was not the case, and within a month, she'd run out of money and begun looking for jobs. She met with little success until shortly after her 18th birthday.

Adult film career

Mimi came across an ad looking for nude models and answered it, thus beginning her rise in the adult film industry. When Mimi first started out in the industry, she was repeatedly told that there just wasn't a market for Asian adult stars (originally, Mimi claimed to be ethnic Japanese, which is more in line with her actual facial features than Filipino), but she was determined and refused to give up. And even though Mimi was always the least paid actress on the set, she continued knocking on studio producers doors. By this time she was becoming quite popular for her abilities to take well-endowed men during vaginal and anal scenes, as well as for her unusually long tongue and enthusiastic oral sex scenes. She was also building a fan base due to her lesbian scenes. Mimi also had several surgeries to increase her natural "B" cup breasts to "DD" size.

Over the next two years, Mimi became the most recognized Asian porn star in the industry. Despite her fame, Mimi had difficulty getting paid on time by some fly-by-night producers. This led Mimi to come to the conclusion that she had to look out for her own business affairs.

She started publishing her own men's magazine, 'Oriental Dolls,' (now known as 'Asian Hotties') and quickly saw the magazine become one of the top Asian-themed lines in the country.

The rise of the internet as a profitable medium for content led Mimi to create a website (that she coded and runs on her own). Now with access to a global public audience, Mimi continued to expand the market for Asian adult films. In 1999, Mimi began doing movie production and talent scouting for Metro Home Video and produced the series she entitled Fantasiany Series #1,2,3,4.

Retirement, mainstream acting

In September 2003, the film Happy Ending was released. That year Mimi Miyagi made her last adult film.

In May 2005, Mimi began work in her first bit role in a mainstream comedy, Come Again.

Political Career

Main article: Nevada gubernatorial election, 2006

On May 12, 2006, she filed as a Republican gubernatorial candidate in the state of Nevada, under her birth name, Melody Damayo. On May 16, 2006, her campaign was endorsed by Wonkette. [1] She was criticized for running for such a position, given her past profession. However, she claimed that she was entirely out of the business and no longer receives royalties from her work. She faced four other Republican candidates in the primary held on August 15, 2006, and was defeated by a wide margin by Jim Gibbons.[2]

External links

• Mimi Miyagi's Homepage
• Campaign website
• Melody Damayo collected Wonkette articles and interviews about her gubernatorial campaign
• "Filing draws to a close: Last day for ballot bids brings out the usual unusuals", The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2006-05-12. Retrieved on 2006-07-09.
• Mimi Miyagi video interview on burntwire.tv