Kei Mizutani
| Kei Mizutani | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 7, 1974 Aomori Prefecture, Japan |
| Height | 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) |
Kei Mizutani (水谷 ケイ Mizutani Kei?) (born May 7, 1974) is a Japanese actress. She has appeared in multiple photo books, movies, and TV series in Japan and her DVD sets are popular in Japan, the United States, and Europe.
Mizutani was born in Aomori Prefecture where she was also raised. She began her modelling career as a swimsuit and nude model for magazines, and began making TV appearances. She became a regular on the late-night adult-oriented TV program variety, Gilgamesh Night.
Mizutani's first movie, Weather Woman was one of the most surprising successes in Japanese cinema of the 1990s. Based on a popular adult manga which had been made into an anime series, Weather Report Girl, the movie tells the story of a woman who becomes a phenomenally successful TV weatherwoman by exposing her panties on the air. Bandai Home Video financed the film, but, considering it a minor production, released it directly to video in 1995. The video quickly developed a large cult following.
Bandai, mistakenly attributing the video's success to its sexual content, produced a sequel which emphasized the sex and concentrated less on the storyline and dark humor of the original. After reading the script, Mizutani refused to appear in the sequel, which proved to be a failure. However the reputation of the original video continued to grow. It won both the Oslo Film Festival and the in 1996. Bandai responded by pulling the original video from the market and releasing the film theatrically.
After its August 16, 1996 theatrical debut, Weather Woman became one of the most successful releases of the year in Japan. Besides its popularity with audiences, the critics also praised the film, and several put it on their top 10 lists for 1996. Kinema Jumpo named the film #26 for the year. In 1997, a television series based on the movie was produced for Asahi TV Network.
Following in the rise of her Weather Woman popularity, Mizutani recorded a CD single in 1996 entitled He Loves Me (ヒー・ラヴズ・ミー). In 1998, she played the role of Shelinda, a villain on the Super Sentai show Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, which was adapted in North America as Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy. In July 2000, she was a guest at the San Diego Comic Con, where the English version of Weather Woman received its premier.
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