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Mika Tan

Birthdate	November 27, 1977 (1977-11-27) (age 32)
Birth location	Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Measurements	36D-26-36[1]
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)[1]
Weight	120 lb (54 kg; 8.6 st)[1]
Shoe size	8 ½[1]
Eye colour	Green/dark brown[1]
Hair colour	Black[1]
Ethnicity	Japanese, Taiwanese, Samoan
Alias(es)	Mika Okinawa, Leiloni
Official web site
Mika Tan at IMDb
Mika Tan at IAFD
Mika Tan at AFDB

Mika Tan (born on November 27, 1977^[2]) is the professional name of an American fetish model (BDSM/DS/stocking and pantyhose fetish) and pornographic actress of Asian ancestry.

Background

Tan was born in Hawaii to a Japanese/Samoan father and an Okinawan-Taiwanese mother. She was adopted at age 3 by her grandmother; her sister was raised by an aunt. Tan was raised by her grandmother, who was an established Hawaiian/Japanese folk dancer and singer, and was the owner of several massage parlors.^[3] While her mother's family was musical, her father's is mainly military, including her sister - who serves in the United States Marine Corps and helps Tan with her official website. As a "Navy brat", Tan traveled around the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa before she started high school.

Some adult distribution companies market Asian American porn star Loni and Mika Tan as cousins, but they are not. However, Tan is related to pinup model Josie Lee.^[4]

Early career

Tan began as a child model, and also appeared as an extra in television, commercials, and the theater^[5]. She was a member of the Movement Company dance troupe of Guam, where she performed modern jazz and ballet.^[1]

Tan studied at San Diego State University, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry. She also has an Associate's degree in Psychology. She did nude art modeling and was a stripper in nightclubs to support herself as a student.^[6][7][8]

Tan studied classical voice at the Magdalena Perés School of Voice and says she is a graduate of the John Robert Powers finishing school.^[1]

Despite her aptitude for science, she did not enjoy it and worked in sales and marketing in the timeshare industry^[9] for Dennis Hof. Hof was later quoted as saying, "She is straight as an arrow; I had no idea she leaned that way; I would have approached her to work for my Moonlite Bunny Ranch back then!"

She tried her hand at acting in California, but quit after discovering that the casting couch is not a myth.^[8] She has been quoted as saying, "For the record, no adult entertainment director, producer, or crewman has ever sexually harassed me EVER. If I have to fuck for work, then I'll just fuck for work. Sure, the sex acts are documented, but at least the payoff is guaranteed in porn."

Tan appeared on the American television show Blind Date in 2006 in an episode titled "Scott and Mika/Pat and Michelle".^[10]

Adult film career

Tan was discovered at an am/pm by porn director Jack Pearl^[7][8][11]. She tried to work only with her then husband, Ray Shannon. However, she eventually was required to perform with other male porn stars. She said in an interview, "He was just too jealous and couldn't handle me working with other men." She quit performing to save her marriage, but Shannon's inability to forget her working with other men caused them to divorce. Tan also had a third trimester miscarriage in this period, which she has described as the worst time of her life.^[9] She now works with both men and women of any race in her porn films.

Tan has married twice: 1) to Ray Shannon and 2) to Alec Knight, another performer in the adult industry.^[7] She has also been romantically connected with other porn performers.

Tan had been considered the "Susan Lucci of Porn", since she was been nominated many times, but did not win any AVN awards until 2006, when she finally won for best oral sex scene. She then remarked, "I'm no longer the Susan Lucci of porn. What am I going to call myself now? I don't have a tagline."^[12]

Tan primarily does fetish-oriented work, including work as a dominatrix and sub for the Kink.com group of companies, mostly the "Men in Pain" and "Mean Bitches" websites, where her intense performances have made her a favorite. She also stars in non-fetish oriented work. She considers herself mainly a fetish model rather than a porn star. The official biography on her website states: "For the record, I do not consider myself a porn star and any girl who has done less than 250 films shouldn't either."^[9] Though she still does hardcore sex films, she also appears in story driven features, such as "Memoirs of a Modern-Day Geisha" (2006) (VCA).

As of December 2007, Tan had done over 1,350 fetish and hardcore scenes for video and the internet. She takes orders for custom videos through her website. Fans are told to submit a script, scenario, and choice of cast. In return, she will make the custom video for a nominal fee plus production costs.

When contract star Kaylani Lei resigned as the host on the Me So Horny internet radio show on KSEX, Tan replaced her, alongside Annie Cruz. Tan left the United States in June 2007 to handle some family legal issues for several months. Shortly afterwards, the cast and crew from KSEX all moved to RUDE.TV.

Tan has now moved into production, with her debut film featuring heterosexual Asian-American men in hardcore scenes.^[13]. She is semi-retired, but manages four shoot locations, works as a certified makeup artist, studies film editing and post-production marketing, and works as an independent consultant who prepares random, time-coded quality control reports for the largest adult DVD distribution company, ensuring their fetish films do not contain scenes depicting non-consensual penetration (bound rape scenarios, abductions, or other acts which may be considered obscene or illegal by United States standards).

In March 2009, Tan began working as a legal prostitute at the Moonlite BunnyRanch brothel in Nevada.^[14]

Awards

• 2009 Urban X Hall of Fame^[15]
• 2007 AVN Award for Underrated Starlet of the Year (Unrecognized Excellence)^[16]
• 2006 Adam Film World award for "Best Asian Starlet"^[17]
• 2006 XRCO Award for Unsung Siren^[18]

References