Local girl gets groovy with 'Austin Powers'

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Yeah, baby, that's Hawai'i's Carrie Ann Inaba, left, as Fook Yu, with Mike Myers as Austin Powers and Diane Mizota as Fook Mi, in "Austin Powers in Goldmember." The film is playing in theaters now. Courtesy photo

For three years in the early 1990s, Inaba also was a Fly Girl on Fox-TV's "In Living Color."

She was living la vida loca as a dancer with Ricky Martin in his 1999 tour.

Now, she's on the big screen in "Austin Powers in Goldmember," in which she plays Fook Yu, the feisty other half of Fook Mi, the sexy Fook Twins, in the midsummer comedy starring Mike Myers.

Yeah, baby, she said it was a fun shoot.

"What else could it be, with Myers and (director) Jay Roach?"

"It's a good thing we didn't have to keep a straight face," she said of working amid the lunacy of the Powers franchise. "All day long, it's loud laughs, constant giggles. Mike is amazing to work with."

Inaba first encountered "Powers" and Myers three years ago, when she appeared as a Felicity Dancer in "Austin Powers II: The Spy Who Shagged Me." She had no intention of participating in the third installment because of her commitment to Entermediarts, her Los Angeles-based digital video company, which is producing her first film, until she got a call from a friend.

"Diane Mizota called me and said she went to an audition and they liked her, but the movie needed twins," Inaba said. "We thought of a mutual friend, Tina Horii, an actress from Hawai'i, but I went to try out anyway. Diane and I dressed alike; she doesn't have a mole on her lip, so she put one on. And we got the parts. Besides, I was eager to do an action film."

The studio describes the Fook Twins as "Japanese," even if the names are Chinese, and the characters are supposed to be seductive martial artists.

Inaba plays Fook Yu, Mizota is Fook Mi, "and the sensual names are a play on words, like in all Austin Powers films," she said.

Inaba said one of her best scenes, a kung fu encounter with Myers, didn't make the final cut.

"I hope it makes the DVD version, which is supposed to be out for Christmas," she said. "A chair is broken between my legs; it was so hilarious during filming that we all stood there drooling with laughter. I swear, Mike is an absolute genius to work with."

Inaba is a 1986 Punahou School graduate, whose father, Rodney, lives and works on the Big Island. Her remarried mom, Patty Inaba Chew, lives in New York.

As a teen, she was an idol in Japan, recording for Pony Canyon Records.

In the early '90s, she wanted to break stereotypes and be an Asian-American leader among performers. She sought work, and found it, on TV, becoming a Fly Girl on "In Living Color."

That stint led to a lead dancer's slot with Madonna, who insisted she shave her hair off for a particular look for an opening sequence of her then-touring show.

"Madonna really pushes you, in a good way," Inaba said. "For six months, I had to shave my head, to keep off the stubble. It's like shaving your legs, but worse; you find out how cold it is from your head down, and being bald, I learned a lot about the shape of my head and how my face looks with expressions but no hair. People thought I was either sick or a punk-rocker, and I welcomed the challenge. It was not the typical role for an Asian, but I loved doing things on the edge. It was like doing a small bit for Cirque du Soleil."

She always considered herself a dancer first, she said. "But I like to keep a balance, in front of the camera and behind the scenes."

Inaba also choreographs and "moves people around," she said.

In recent years, she worked on such shows as "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire," "America's Sexiest Bachelor," and Fox's season-launching promos, where she "choreographs" actors to move to and fro. "Staging is like mathematics, a matter of moving numbers, especially nonprofessionals — my specialty," she said.

Lately, she's been involved in writing, producing and directing "Black Water," her first short film, which is being co-produced by John LaRusso, her fiance. The film is "about the things we hide from our past," and includes a underwater dance sequence.

She hopes to premiere it at the Hawai'i International Film Festival in November.

The film is not the only production in the works.

"We're getting married next May in Hawai'i," Inaba said. "I want it to be on the beach, with guests sticking their feet in the water."

Next up?

Inaba will choreograph the 2002 Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in September.

In October, she journeys to Dubai to choreograph Fashion TV's World Super Model Pageant.

"And once my film is done, I hope to hit the film festival circuit next year," she said.