As a young girl in Osaka, Japan’s second-largest city,
Mitsuyo Miyazaki often worked in her grandparents’ factory fabricating small
metal parts for various uses. While finding diversion with 1950s American rock
and roll, she dreamed of a life not so confining and colorless. And, she thought,
wouldn’t it be nice to use the arts to escape any tedium that might creep into her
world? Fortunately, she was blessed with a sparkling talent for performing, a
fertile imagination, a strong work ethic, and an adventurous and indefatigable spirit.
It is that combination that has led her to a well-founded education, a stellar
career, and recognition as SUU’s 2015 Outstanding Alumnus.
As soloist for a youth chorus in her hometown, she expanded
her horizons on the stage, and she starred in a variety of musicals and operas
from the age of 10. Her dream, however, was to come to America, and upon a
prestigious selection to study for a year in the United States, had her pick of
many destinations. Utah was suggested and her puzzled response was “What’s
Utah?” When she learned there were ski slopes, she agreed and found herself at
Jordan High School in Sandy. Later, she was happy to return to the Beehive
State, accepted into SUU’s vaunted theatre arts and dance program. In her first
semester in 1995, she was cast as part of the ensemble in Fred Adams’ Jane Eyre: The Musical, and thus set off
on an arduous but satisfying four-year journey through SUU’s cross-disciplinary
approach.
She acted in a variety of plays, created costumes and
learned all aspects of theatre, while diving fearlessly into the art department
as well. She performed at her 1999 Commencement, had her paintings exhibited, and
was named the outstanding senior in the theatre arts and dance department. She
then headed for Hollywood and soon found herself cast in national commercials
while also earning an exciting living as a photographer of actors and musicians.
However, as an actress, the repetitiveness of auditioning wore on her and she sought
more vibrant vistas, enrolling in the University of Southern California graduate
school of cinematic arts. She was immediately grateful, she says, for the first-rate
preparation of an SUU education.
Her first movie credit came as a production associate for
the film Nanking, directed by double
Oscar winner Bill Guttentag, and she earned a dizzying array of awards while at
USC. Her thesis film Tsuyako, among
more than a dozen of her productions thus far, visited more than 100 festivals
worldwide, picking up 45 awards, and helped solidify her as one of the
brightest young filmmakers in the country and indeed, the world. She quickly
became busy as a cinematographer, scriptwriter and director of web content,
commercials, and films and continues to earn awards.
A deeply personal film, Where
We Begin, is her latest award-winning offering, included in the highly
prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. The 19-minute dance performance drama was
filmed in our surrounding spectacular scenery with largely local personnel
added to Hollywood actors. SUU’s head of theatre arts and dance, Kay Andersen,
choreographed and appeared in the film, and has the highest praise for
Mitsuyo’s work. “She created a real community in the work,” he says. “She is a
fine director. She was able to make her vision so clear that it was easy for
all involved to understand exactly what she wanted. The work is stunning. She
is a Renaissance woman, and brilliant.”
To be sure, Mitsuyo Miyazaki is well into the whirlwind of a
film career and, as ever, is fully open to the inspirational possibilities of
visual communication and its ability to change society and its people. As SUU’s
Outstanding Alumnus, her successes truly reflect greatly upon the institution.
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