Born: 21-11-1957
Birthplace: Funabash
Country: Japan
Nationality: Japanese
Occupation: actress/stunt Woman

She lives together with her husband (she married him in 1996) and son in Moorpark (California). She opens three fitness clubs with her brother as co-owner. She opened the first fitness gym for women in Japan, which led to a bodybuilding boom in Japan.

She started with volleyball as teenager and was gymnast in her high school time. She has a black belt in goju-ryu karate and is also trained in Chinese wushu. She also practices taekwondo and shotokan karate right now.

She gets interest in bodybuilding because she was not satisfied about her body. Her legs seem too heavy in comparison to her upper body. She starts with bodybuilding in order to change the shape of her body.

She starts to train with her brother, who former Japanese powerlifting champion is. The turning point in her training intensity came when her father died of a heart attack. She trains more than ever before in the gym. She could easily lift 250 pound and could also easily perform 100 continuous push-ups. She became three times bodybuilding/power lifting champion and is the first Japanese bodybuilding champion ever. The death of her father became also a turning point for her in life, when she decides to do her own things in future.

Her muscular physique and beauty presents a startling contrast of her femininity without the use of anabolic steroids or other drugs. She created a bodybuilding "boom" across Japan and changed the stereotype of the submissive and docile Japanese woman for a strong Japanese role model.

Her fame as Japanese bodybuilding champion in combination with a black belt in karate leads to roles in television commercials and appearances in several tv shows and sporting events.

Action Movie Career

She made her action movie debut in the second movie of the Lucky Stars series ''My Lucky Stars 2'' (1985). She plays alongside action stars Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Sibelle Hu in this ''Golden Harvest studio'' movie. She plays a short role as gangster who appears in a few action scenes.

She plays alongside Sandra Ng Kwan Yue and Cynthia Khan (replaces the retiring Michelle Yeoh and makes her movie debut) in the ''D & B'' movie "In the Line of Duty 3" (1987). She plays Japanese terrorist Michiko who performs a spectacularly violent jewelry robbery together with her partner the terrorist Nakamura of the ''Red Army'' (a terrorist organization from Japan) at a jewelry show in Tokyo. The couple flees to Hong Kong and are hunted by Hong Kong inspector Rachel Yeung (played by Cynthia Khan).

She plays police officer Lily who protects a witness against a gangster together with police officer Mona (played by Moon Lee) in ''Princess Madam'' (1989). Both women fail when the witness is killed by Lisa (played by Sharon Yeung) to save her father's honour. They hunt on Lisa and both women do everything to solve the case.

She plays a yakuza member in this story about professional gambler Do San (played by Chow Yun-Fat) who gets brain-damage by an accident in "God of Gamblers'' (1989). Knife (played by Andy Lau) and his girlfriend Jane (played by Joey Wong) take care for him. The couple discover his supernatural gambling abilities when they use him to cheat with gambling.

She plays alongside Cynthia Rothrock and Suki Kwan in the action movie ''City Cops'' (1989). American FBI agent Cindy (played by Cynthia Rothrock) hunts on Chinese mafia boss Kent Tong (played by Ken Tong) in Hong Kong in order to take revenge for her murdered collegue.

She plays Liu family member Chieko and Elizabeth Lee plays Ching-ching who is the daughter of the powerful Liu family mob boss in ''Widow Warriors'' (1990). Ching-ching her father and all top men of the Liu family are murdered by the rival Yim group at the Chinese Opera. Chieko takes revenge against the Yim group with  help of her sisters-in-law Aunt Nan (played by Tien Niu), Yee's wife (played by Kara Hui) and Ching-ching.

She plays a short role as Miego and Yukari Ôshima plays Captain Tequila who is hunting for professional thieves Frankie Chan and Max Mok in "The Outlaw Brothers" (1990).

She plays alongside action heroines Francis Ng, Sibelle Hu and Carrie Ng in "The Dragon Fighter" (1990). An fighter is determined to fight against the oppressive master Ching in order to destroy his castle.

She plays next to Kara Hui and Carrie Ng in the ''Grandwell Film Production'' action movie ''Angel Terminators'' (1990). Hong Kong is controlled by criminals in 1990, and the thin blue line that separates justice from anarchy is being erased. The criminals rule the city until a new female police force named ''Angel Terminators'' arrives in Hong Kong, led by the female detectives Ida (played by Pan Pan Yeung) and Hon (played by Kara Hui). The two beauties start cleaning the streets from thugs and hunt on their old nemesis, the deposed crime lord Ken Zhang (played by Kenneth Tsang). He was forced to go in exile after his men were defeated by the ''Angel Terminators''. He's back in Hong Kong to reclaim the spoils of his near-fallen empire. Ken Zhang is protected by his loyal bodyguards and Michiko plays the leader of the bodyguards.

She plays photographer Sha Sha Lee who has the unfortunate ability to see what the next move is of criminals, before they do in ''Passionate Killing in the Dream'' (1992). She has visions about the next move of killer Big Buffalo's (played by Lam Wai) who uses her talents, to alert the police. Is Sha Sha Lee the next victim of the killer or would she stop him before he kills her.

She plays next to female heroines Sibelle Hu and Francis Ng in ''The Mighty Gambler'' (1992). She plays a mainland relative of a casino employee who fights with sword.

She plays female supercop Show Yun in this story about a group of thieves from mainland China who flee to Taiwan, after robbing a jewelry store in Hong Kong in ''Big Circle Blues'' (1992). Show Yun teams up with her Taiwan counterpart policeman Wei (played by Mark Cheng) in order to stop this violent gang of robbers.

She plays tough cop Chiang who gets the assignment to bring the real killer to justice, after the prosecutor (played by Yin Li Shi) is forced by an bureaucrat, to give the guilt from a criminal offense to his roommate in ''Whore And Policewoman'' (1993). The bureaucrat is desperate to avoid detection, while she formulates a clever trap to catch him red-handed.

She plays alongside action heroines Sophia Crawford, Carrie Ng and Kar Lok Chin in ''Hero Dream'' (1993). The beautiful pregnant wife Kiki (played by Carrie Ng) of young cop Hao (played by Chin Siu-ho) is kidnapped by an band of thugs during their vacation in Thailand. He becomes allies with disgraced gangbanger Lok (played by Chin Kar-lok). They try to rescue Kiki and kill every single person on their way.

She plays Sen who travels to Hong Kong in order to help girlfriend Oshima (played by Yukari Ôshima) with getting the painting of the Japanese officials from WWII in "The avenging Quartet'' (1992). Feng (played by Moon Lee) meets Chin (played by Chynthia Khan) during the search for her ex-friend and become girlfriends. Oshima and Sen met Chin (played by Chynthia Khan) and Feng (played by Moon Lee) later and the four women decide to work together in order to clean the streets of thugs.

She plays an vampire in one episode of the action TV series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997) and plays a Japanese soldier in the action TV series ''Fantasy Island'' (1998).

She plays a supporting role as Hana next to Michael Worth who plays the lead role as John Slaughter in ''Ghost Rock'' (2003). John returns 20 years later to the town where he was involved with an almost forgotten massacre. He's the only living witness of the crime, who teams up with the mysterious gunslinger Savannah Starr in order to destroy the west.

Action Documentary

She appears in the Japanese action documentary ''The Best of the Martial Arts Films'' (1992). This documentary is hosted by John Saxon and shows a collection of the best fighting scenes in martial arts films done by several legendary action stars.

''The Best of The Martial Arts Films'' Cast

Joyce Godenzi
Sibelle Hu
Angela Mao
Michiko Nishiwaki
Cynthia Rothrock
Karen Sheperd

Her action movie character is portrayed in the documentary ''Top Fighter II: Deadly China Dolls'' (1996). This documentary is a sequel of the documentary "Top Fighter" (1995) and portrays the biggest action heroines ever. The show goes behind the scenes with TV footage and interviews with several heroines in short clips. The documentary shows how the path goes from upcoming action heroine till real action movie superstar. The most beautiful and wellknown female fighters are playing in this documentary and is a voyage by the times.

Top Fighter II: Deadly China Dolls Cast

Cheng Pei Pei
Chia Ling
Sophia Crawford
Hsu Feng
Cynthia Khan Lai Ching
Moon Lee Choi Fong
Elaine Lui Siu Ling
Angela Mao Ying
Michiko Nishiwaki
Yukari Oshima
Cynthia Rothrock
Polly Shang-Kwan Ling Feng
Shih Szu
Michelle Yeoh
Sharon Yeung Pan Pan
Amy Yip Chi May

Stunts

She is also stunt woman who made her stunt debut in the crime movie ''Red Corner'' (1997). She did the stunt double of Lucy Liu in ''Charlie's Angels'' (2000) and ''Kill Bill'' (2003) and did the stunt double of Kelly Hu in ''The Scorpion King'' (2002). She did also stunts in movies as ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' (2005), ''Mission: Impossible III'' (2006), ''Resident Evil: Extinction'' (2007) and many more.

Action Movie Filmography

• Ghost Rock (2003)
• Fantasy Island (1998) ''TV Series''
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) ''TV Series''
• Top Fighter 2: Deadly Fighting Dolls (1996)
• Avenging Quartet (1993)
• City On Fire (1993)
• Fatal Seduction (1993)
• Hero Dream (1993)
• Whore And Policewoman (1993)
• Big Circle Blues (1992)
• The Mighty Gambler (1992)
• Passionate Killing In The Dream  (1992)
• Angel Terminators  (1990)
• The Dragon Fighter (1990)
• King Of Gambler (1990)
• The Outlaw Brothers (1990)
• Widow Warriors (1990)
• City Cops (1989)
• God Of Gamblers (1989)
• Princess Madam (1989)
• In The Line Of Duty 3 (1987)
• My Lucky Stars (1985)

Action Documentary

• The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1992)
• Top Fighter II: Deadly China Dolls (1996)

Stunts

• Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
• Mission: Impossible III (2006)
• Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
• Collateral (2004)
• Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
• Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
• The Scorpion King (2002)
• Clockstoppers (2002)
• The Practice (2002) ''TV series''
• Rush Hour 2 (2001)
• Charlie's Angels (2000)
• Chain of Command (2000)
• Play It to the Bone (1999)
• Man on the Moon (1999)
• Mortal Kombat: Conquest (1999) ''TV series''
• Blade (1998)
• Brave New World (1998)
• Red Corner (1997)