Duck and Cover, Here Comes Michiko! By Rosalie Leung At first glance, Japanese born Michiko Nishiwaki may not look familiar, but watch closely and you may catch a glimpse of her in films like “Charlie's Angels”, “The Scorpion King” and “Rush Hour 2”. Michiko can be seen fighting the bad guys and taking risky, high-flying jumps in these films as stunt double for Lucy Liu, Kelly Hu, and Zhang Ziyi. Michiko has punched and kicked her way to the top, now established as one of the best (and most requested) stunt people in Hollywood. It was not too long ago however, that Michiko was working a mundane office job in Tokyo. It was after her father's passing that she finally decided to change her life- and change it she most certainly did! She quit the office job and took up body building and eventually, stunt acting. Just after her father's death, Michiko began power training with her brother to become Miss Fitness. She not only captured the title, muscles flexing in pride, but also kept it for two more years. At only 100 pounds, she was able to lift 330.75 pounds- over three times her weight! Aside from winning the Miss Fitness title, Michiko also opened the most popular female fitness club in Japan: Unicorn gym. She was also the first to open a weight training facility for women. After becoming Japan’s first female body building star, Michiko soon became a major role model to all Japanese women, especially those interested in body building and self empowerment. While Michiko was helping to empower women and continuing to train and build her body, she also remembered to follow the Japanese tradition of respect for men. When training in gyms, she sometimes shared machines with men, but usually went to train on separate machines so that she would not embarrass the men when lifting a heavier weight than they did. “When I was in Japan, I had a lot of respect for men and I always will. Men, most of the time, have more pressures than women so I respected their position in life,” said Michiko. Aside from her amazing body building abilities, Michiko also has a slew of other talents. Over the years, she has obtained a background in dance. She does classical ballet, jazz ballet, and Japanese dance. She also has an extensive background in martial arts. With a black belt in goju-ryu karate, training in shotoka, knowledge of Chinese sword and wushu, it’s no wonder that she has become one of the best stunt people in the business. Around 1985, Michiko finally entered stunt work and decided to leave body building after she was offered work with Choi Lan at Golden Harvest. She finally left Japan and moved to Hong Kong to pursue a career in film. It was in Hong Kong that she learned to speak Cantonese and began working with big names like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao. Michiko first began doing stunt work in American movies in the film “Blade”. Since the film, she has worked on bigger and bigger projects and has performed more and more death defying stunts. These stunts however, did not come without a price. Some of her many injuries from stunt work are a torn bicep during the shooting of “Charlie's Angels” and torn cartilage in one of her arms on the set of “Rush Hour 2”. Michiko’s reply to this constant risk of injuries while on her job is, "When a football player plays in a game, he is at risk. The same goes for any profession. I understand the risk I am putting myself in and I accept what happens. And of course, the money does not hurt." Presently, Michiko is still doing action and stunt work, but in the future plans on doing more dramatic roles. She recently finished a film called “Ghost Rock,” which is coming to theatres soon. In the film, she plays a Geisha living in the West during the 1880s. Her character is sold as a slave to the Chinese, who were already in America during that time. The film is a love story with action scenes and stars Michael Worth as the lead character. He is also the movie’s creator. For Michiko, it has been a long and weary journey to get from office worker in Tokyo to big time actress in Hollywood, but she doesn’t regret one minute. She savors every memory and hopes to make many more. From what we already know, we are sure to see more amazing things to come from this buff beauty turned big screen bombshell.