Carrie Ann Inaba (born January 5, 1968) is an American dancer, choreographer, actress, and singer.
Inaba was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her ethnic background is Japanese, Chinese and Irish. She is the youngest 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, who speaks 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 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, 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.
Inaba was one of the judges on the ABC Family revival version of Dance Fever in 2003. She has been a judge on all four seasons of Dancing with the Stars. She was a guest co-host on The View in July 2006 and appeared again on The View, co-hosting the day after Rosie O'Donnell announced her upcoming departure from the show.
She is currently dating Artem Chigvintsev, a former competitor on So You Think You Can Dance. They recently moved into her new home in the L.A. suburbs.
