Carrie Ann Inaba is an American dancer, choreographer, actress, game show host, and singer who is best known for being a judge on the ABC reality competition series Dancing with the Stars.
Inaba got her first breakthrough in the United States by appearing as one of the original “Fly Girls” on the sketch comedy TV series In Living Color. Inaba also had a small, albeit legendary role, as Fook Yu in Austin Powers in Goldmember.
Prior to becoming a celebrity, Inaba was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. For college, she attended Sophia University and the University of California, Irvine before graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in world arts and cultures.
After she turned 18-years-old, Inaba moved to Japan to become a pop star. She lived in Tokyo from 1986 to 1988 and released three singles as a singer: “Party Girl”, “Be Your Girl”, and “Yume no Senaka”.
During her career, Inaba has appeared as a dancer in films 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.
Since 2005, Inaba has been a judge on ABC’s hit series Dancing with the Stars and since 2017, she has been a guest co-host on the daytime talk show The Talk.
