Carrie Ann Inaba ’00

Although many know her name and face as a judge from ABC’s smash hit Dancing with the Stars, Carrie Ann Inaba ’00 has compiled an impressive track record in Hollywood.

Inaba’s extensive résumé includes many dance and choreographer credits. She was a Fly Girl on Fox’s In Living Color, a dancer on tour with Madonna and has appeared in a number of music videos.

Her choreographer credits are equally impressive and include American Idol, American Juniors, The TV Land Awards, Dance Fever and four consecutive years with the Miss America Pageant. Moviegoers may recognize her from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Showgirls. She’s even popped up in an episode of Hannah Montana.

A Honolulu native, Inaba took a nontraditional path after graduating from high school and moved to Japan, where she pursued a career as a recording artist, working with singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins. During her two-year tenure in Japan, she released three popular singles and attended Sophia University before returning to the United States. She juggled academia and entertainment, completing her degree in world arts and cultures at UCLA 2000.

In recent years, Inaba has increased her multi-hyphenated list of job titles. She is founder and president of EnterMediArts, Inc., a digital production company. She also has worked as a writer, director and film editor, and she brought her trademark beauty and wit as a guest co-host on The View and co-anchor for TV Guide’s live red carpet coverage of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards.

In an interview with AOL’s TV Tattler, Inaba speaks of her future career goals. “I would love to do something on Broadway one day,” she says. “I would like to produce a few shows for television, and then I would like to direct and create a show for Las Vegas – like what Cirque du Soleil was when it started out – and get back to basics about how all people are just one. I'm from Hawaii and that spirit of ohana, which means family, is really evident as I grow older, so I'd like to create something that has heart to it.”