Diane Mizota
Encyclopedia
Diane Kiyomi Mizota is an American
dancer, actress, and hostess
.
, was born in Los Angeles, California
and raised in Danville, California
. Mizota studied dance in high school and in UCLA and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Communication Studies. Mizota played Katy in the MTV
comedy/drama Undressed
, guest starred on the soap opera Passions
, and danced in Boys and Girls, Beautiful, and the ill-fated Monkeybone
in 2001.
Mizota appeared in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember
(2002) as Fook Mi, alongside Carrie Ann Inaba
who played her twin sister Fook Yu. 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 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
, was given the role and the two women were made up to appear as identical twins. Mizota and Inaba would later reprise their roles with Mike Myers
in a commercial for Motorola
.
In 2003, Mizota co-hosted the annual video game awards G-Phoria
along with comedian Jamie Kennedy
and Victor Lucas
, host of the video game show, The Electric Playground
. Mizota was a host for Discovery Kids'
Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls
on NBC
and a video game countdown show, Filter on G4. Mizota's time on the G4 Network has given her a wide fanbase. However, on December 9, 2005, Mizota announced that G4 had canceled the series, and the last episode of Filter with Mizota as host aired on December 19, 2005. G4 brought back Filter in June 2006 with new host Beth Ostrosky
, but the show has since been canceled again.
Also in 2005, Mizota took part in the reality show
, Three Wishes starring Amy Grant
and had a role in Rob Marshall
's feature film, Memoirs of a Geisha
.
Mizota hosted an online technology show for Revision3 called InDigital, but has since moved on. Mizota is the current spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable
, under the name "Karen". In 2006, Mizota appeared in a Best Buy
holidays commercial as a Best Buy employee, and in Toyota commercials as a customer looking at cars. In 2007, Mizota appeared in another Best Buy
holiday commercial as a woman with a voyeuristic partner, and in a State Farm
commercial, as a baseball game attendant. In 2009, Mizota appeared in a Volkswagen
commercial as a dealership employee.
Diane recently hosted a Dancing With the Stars recap with Joey Lawrence on Yahoo.com, as part of Yahoo! Buzz Session. She co-hosts the second season of the GSN
series Bingo America
with Richard Karn
. She also hosts the celebrity fitness show, "Inside and Out" on Yahoo's OMG page and has recently been tapped to host "This Week in Mom" on Yahoo's Shine page.
In April 2011, Diane won the social media contest to become Ashton Kutcher's Vice President of Pop Culture for Popchips, by writing, producing and editing her own submission video, and will cover pop culture events for the next year. One of her first assignments is an exclusive interview with Bruno Mars as he prepares his new tour.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
dancer, actress, and hostess
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
.
Life and career
Mizota, a Japanese AmericanJapanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
, was born in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and raised in Danville, California
Danville, California
The Town of Danville is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California. It is one of the incorporated municipalities in California that uses "town" in its name instead of "city". The population was 42,039 in 2010. Danville is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Oakland and San...
. Mizota studied dance in high school and in UCLA and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Communication Studies. Mizota played Katy in the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
comedy/drama Undressed
Undressed (TV series)
Undressed is an American anthology series that aired on MTV from July 26, 1999 to September 5, 2002. The series was created and executive produced by British director Roland Joffé.-Synopsis:...
, guest starred on the soap opera Passions
Passions
Passions is an American television soap opera which aired on NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 and on The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008....
, and danced in Boys and Girls, Beautiful, and the ill-fated Monkeybone
Monkeybone
Monkeybone is a 2001 American comedy film that combines live-action with stop-motion animation. It was based on Kaja Blackley's graphic novel Dark Town...
in 2001.
Mizota appeared in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Austin Powers in Goldmember is a 2002 American spy comedy film and the third installment of the Austin Powers series starring Mike Myers in the title role. The movie was directed by Jay Roach, and co-written by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers. Myers also plays the roles of Dr. Evil, Goldmember,...
(2002) as Fook Mi, alongside Carrie Ann Inaba
Carrie Ann Inaba
Carrie Ann Inaba is an American dancer, choreographer, actress, game show host, and singer.She started her career as a singer in Japan, but became best known for her dancing, first introducing herself to American audiences as one of the original Fly Girls on the sketch comedy series In Living Color...
who played her twin sister Fook Yu. 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 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, released in 1999, is the second film in the Austin Powers series that began with 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and continued with Austin Powers in Goldmember. The film was directed by Jay Roach, co-written by Mike Myers and screenwriter...
, was given the role and the two women were made up to appear as identical twins. Mizota and Inaba would later reprise their roles with Mike Myers
Mike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
in a commercial for Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
.
In 2003, Mizota co-hosted the annual video game awards G-Phoria
G-Phoria
G-Phoria is an annual video game awards show started in 2003 and produced by G4. The awards are democratically voted on.Formerly the event was formatted like a regular awards ceremony taped in front of an audience, featuring celebrities such as Hal Sparks, Carmen Electra, Wilmer Valderamma and Anna...
along with comedian Jamie Kennedy
Jamie Kennedy
James Harvey "Jamie" Kennedy is an American comedian, rapper, and actor.-Early life:Kennedy, the youngest of six children, was born in Upper Darby Township, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family is of Irish descent and he was raised Roman Catholic. He attended and graduated from...
and Victor Lucas
Victor Lucas
Victor "Vic" Lucas is a Canadian television producer and personality, mainly known as the creator, executive producer, writer, co-host and director of the television program The Electric Playground. He is also the creator, executive producer, and co-host of Reviews on the Run; the show was known...
, host of the video game show, The Electric Playground
The Electric Playground
The Electric Playground is a daily news television show on the cable TV network G4 that covers movies, TV shows, comic books, collectibles and gadgets...
. Mizota was a host for Discovery Kids'
Discovery Kids
Discovery Kids is an American website owned by Discovery Communications, Inc. created for children. Until October 10, 2010, it was an American digital cable specialty channel, owned by Discovery Communications with television programming for education of children. It was launched in October 1996...
Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls
Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls
Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls is a 2003 reality television series spin-off of the home redecorating series, Trading Spaces, hosted by Diane Mizota. During the fourth season, Chuck Cureau hosted seven episodes until the show ended in 2005...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and a video game countdown show, Filter on G4. Mizota's time on the G4 Network has given her a wide fanbase. However, on December 9, 2005, Mizota announced that G4 had canceled the series, and the last episode of Filter with Mizota as host aired on December 19, 2005. G4 brought back Filter in June 2006 with new host Beth Ostrosky
Beth Ostrosky
Beth Stern is an American television personality and actress who is the wife of radio personality Howard Stern.-Early life:...
, but the show has since been canceled again.
Also in 2005, Mizota took part in the reality show
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
, Three Wishes starring Amy Grant
Amy Grant
Amy Lee Grant is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, media personality and actress, best known for her Christian music. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop"...
and had a role in Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall is an American theater director, film director and choreographer. He is a six-time Tony Award nominee, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe nominee and four-time Emmy winner whose most noted work is the 2002 Academy Award for Best Picture winner Chicago.-Life and career:Marshall was...
's feature film, Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha (film)
Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 film adaptation of the novel of the same name, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment and by Douglas Wick's Red Wagon Productions. It was directed by Rob Marshall. It was released in the United States on December 9, 2005 by...
.
Mizota hosted an online technology show for Revision3 called InDigital, but has since moved on. Mizota is the current spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
, under the name "Karen". In 2006, Mizota appeared in a Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
holidays commercial as a Best Buy employee, and in Toyota commercials as a customer looking at cars. In 2007, Mizota appeared in another Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
holiday commercial as a woman with a voyeuristic partner, and in a State Farm
State farm
State farm can refer to:*Sovkhoz, a type of state-owned farm in the Soviet Union*Volkseigenes Gut, a type of state-owned farm in East Germany*Państwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne, a type of state-owned farm in People's Republic of Poland...
commercial, as a baseball game attendant. In 2009, Mizota appeared in a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
commercial as a dealership employee.
Diane recently hosted a Dancing With the Stars recap with Joey Lawrence on Yahoo.com, as part of Yahoo! Buzz Session. She co-hosts the second season of the GSN
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
series Bingo America
Bingo America
Bingo America is an American game show airing on GSN that follows two contestants as they try to compete to win up to $100,000, as well as letting at-home viewers print bingo cards at GSN.com that allow them to play along with the show to win money....
with Richard Karn
Richard Karn
Richard Karn is an American actor and game show host. He is most well known for his co-starring role as Al Borland in the 1990s sitcom Home Improvement and his tenure as the host of Family Feud during the 2000s.-Early life:...
. She also hosts the celebrity fitness show, "Inside and Out" on Yahoo's OMG page and has recently been tapped to host "This Week in Mom" on Yahoo's Shine page.
In April 2011, Diane won the social media contest to become Ashton Kutcher's Vice President of Pop Culture for Popchips, by writing, producing and editing her own submission video, and will cover pop culture events for the next year. One of her first assignments is an exclusive interview with Bruno Mars as he prepares his new tour.