biography of Gina Hiraizumi

Gina Hiraizumi is one of the hardest working people in Hollywood. I’ve been a big fan of her from afar but recently we were both invited to Japan for a conference and I found out that not only is she a super talented actor/singer, but also one of the most down to earth and funny people I know.

Gina has been in countless television shows, sung the national anthem all around the country, and is currently working on her first music album.

I sat down with Gina for a few moments and asked her 8Questions:

Tell us a little about yourself… Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?

I work as an actress, and launching my secondary career as a singer. I grew up in Torrance, CA but split my childhood years and summers in Japan and Hawaii. We were well traveled since we were little. That is, me and my 2 sisters.

You’re a double threat, an actor and a singer, how did you get into both and which do you love more?

In high school, I was focused mainly on basketball. I guess growing up as a Yonsei (a fourth generation Japanese American) in Torrance meant your life revolved around the FOR leagues and all the out of town tournaments. Well, that tomboy stage slowly shifted gears when I joined Pep Squad Songs, and then the performer in me emerged. I became involved in theatre, acting classes, and there it began. Singing was something I’ve always loved—but my first professional training started when I got into Juilliard in New York in ’05. Love both equally the same.

What is your happiest/proudest moment as a performer/actor?

Probably doing meaningful films that represents who I am—as a Japanese American and my history, such as Day of Independence directed by Chris Tashima, and Only the Brave which I was opposite Jason Scott Lee. And, having my parents, grandparents there at the premiere to see such films, and they being so touched by it. Also, singing for 50,000 people at Staples Center for a NBA game without an ounce of stage fright is also one of my proudest ones.

What is your most embarrassing moment as a performer/actor?

I suppose, when you have those days when things are not particularly going well…“just one of those days”—and you may say things you don’t mean. I have snapped at one of the production assistants on set of something I was working on, and I didn’t mean it toward her. I was just having the worst day ever, and it came at the wrong time. I went out of my way to apologize later, but I felt really small.

Biography

Gina Hiraizumi recurs on Season 3 of the hit HBO Max series, Doom Patrol (2019). An adaptation of the DC Universe series, she brings to life "The Quiz," a passionate, fearless enigma that viewers are alternately introduced to as the Japanese speaking "Sachiko." The most powerful force of the Sisterhood of the Dada, her storyline spans the Spanish Flu in the early 1900's to modern day. The show has been renewed for another season on HBO Max in 2022.

Doom Patrol (2019) Writer/Producer, Shoshana Sachi quotes: "I remember seeing her audition and being so captivated. Every subtle shift in her emotion is played with such careful deliberation. She embodied 'The Quiz' so wonderfully and made my words so much more special and nuanced - speaking them like the contemplative artist, The Quiz is."

On the season premiere of Dynasty (2017) on The CW, Hiraizumi plays the wealthy and sophisticated, "Barbara." Inside the upscale atmosphere of the Carrington Manor, playing a Venture Capitalist businesswoman came a natural fit - her real life ancestry stems from all entrepreneurs and business professionals.

Other 2021 TV credits include the AMC/Shudder series, Creepshow (2019) by Showrunner Greg Nicotero of the hit AMC series, The Walking Dead (2010) followed by the NBC series, Mr. Mayor (2021) and Good Girls (2018). Hiraizumi also guested on one of the last episodes of the final season of Hawaii Five-0 (2010) on CBS.

What is your infertility journey in a nutshell?

Going on four years of trying. When we got married, we naively thought it would be so easy to conceive. Little did we know when we started trying that iit would take us two years to even get pregnant in the first place. I was 35 years old at the time. I then learned about the ovulation window, and how women only have a three-five day window to get pregnant per month. (Editor’s note: it’s not uncommon that infertility teaches us so much more about our bodies and reproductive lives!) 

Those ovulation sticks worked, but I had two miscarriages — one early in the First Trimester, and a second, after a year of trying, in the Second Trimester when I was supposed to be in the “safe zone”. I had a traumatizing D&C surgery to remove the fetus, and pathology tests revealed it was due to chromosomal abnormalities, common in women in my age group of 35~40. 

Because of that data, our OB recommended IVF, and I immediately jumped in. It felt like there was no time to waste at the age of 38. I knew that the age of my eggs upon retrieval was so important. 

I feel blessed that I had a good AMH, so ovarian quantity was not an issue. It seemed that the matter of finding the “quality egg” among those was the goal, and were we humbled! It was sobering and shocking to learn about  the small number of chromosomally normal embryos we had through IVF and PGT-A (formerly called PGS) testing. We have those embryos frozen now. 

soruse: discovernikkei....imdb...wikipedia...pregnantishverified