General Hospital Obstetrician

Background:

"I would do unusual things. Once, I found a piece of blank film strip, and I painted scenes onto it. I also liked to do little clay sculptures." Minae Noji.

Japanese-American Minae Noji is best recognized by TV viewers as Dr. Kelly Lee (2006-Present), obstetrician at General Hospital who roommates with psychiatrist Lainey Winters (played by Kent King), on the long-running ABC soap opera "General Hospital." She also reprised her "General Hospital" role in its spin-off, "General Hospital: Night Shift" in 2007.

Noji, who had previously played a recurring role in "The Bold and the Beautiful" and guest-starred in "Spin City," has appeared in the films "Be Cool" (2005) and "Memoirs of a Geisha" (2005), and will next be seen in the upcoming film "Bitch Slap."

She also has lent her voice in such video games as "Emperor: Battle for Dune" (2002), "Earth and Beyond" (2002), and the upcoming "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3."

Noji has launched her co-own fashion accessories line, “EmyMina,” whose some profits go to Save the Children Fund and the Make a Wish Foundation.

Japanese-American

Childhood and Family:

A Japanese-American, Minae Noji was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 30 ,1973. She is an only child to an engineer father and an accountant mother. Her grandfather was a painter and she has various aunts who paint and make jewelry.

Young Minae attended Glen A. Wilson High School and Mesa Robles Middle school in Hacienda Heights, CA. She received a BA degree in Sociology from UC Irvine.

EmyMina

Career:

Having been acting since she was a child, Minae Noji has performed both in theaters and on television. In the early 1990s, she became additional voices on the TBS animated environmentalist television program, "Captain Planet and the Planeteers." Later in 1998, she played a recurring role as Susan on the CBS long-running soap opera, "The Bold and the Beautiful."

In 2001, Noji guest-starred as a sales lady in an episode of Fox Kids' incarnation of the “Power Rangers” series based on the Super Sentai series “Mirai Sentai Timeranger,” "Power Rangers Time Force," and as a Tai Chi instructor in an episode of ABC sitcom "Spin City."

She subsequently provided her voice for the 2002 video games "Emperor: Battle for Dune," a real-time strategy game which is based in Frank Herbert's science fiction "Dune" universe, and "Earth and Beyond," a science fiction massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

Meanwhile, Noji made her first films, "Judge Is God" (2002), a short film by James Allen which she also produced, and "Instant Trauma" (2002), a comedy by Clete Keith. She followed it up with roles in "Bill the Intern" (2003), William Lawrence Hess's film starring Kevin Seldon, and "The Last Run" (2004), a drama/comedy by Jonathan Segal starring Fred Savage and Amy Adams.

In 2005, Noji appeared in the sport/comedy TV movie "Bobby Cannon," starring Kevin Sorbo. That same year, she portrayed Miss Bangkok in F. Gary Gray's film adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, "Be Cool," starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman. She also played a small role as Spring Festival Dancer in Rob Marshall's big screen version of Arthur Golden's 1997 novel, "Memoirs of a Geisha," starring Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh.

The following year saw Noji replaced Gwendoline Yeo in the recurring role of Dr. Kelly Lee, obstetrician at General Hospital who roommates with psychiatrist Lainey Winters (played by Kent King), on the long-running ABC soap opera "General Hospital." As of November 2008, Noji still plays the character in the acclaimed TV show. She also reprised her "General Hospital" role in its spin-off, "General Hospital: Night Shift," a prime time serial that first aired on SOAPnet for a 13-episode run from July 12, 2007 to October 4, 2007.

During her "General Hospital" tenure, Noji played an uncredited role as Hosakawa/Chinese Checker in "God's Waiting List" (2006), a gritty, heartfelt drama by Duane Adler, and was recently seen in the 21-minute short drama film, "California King" (2008).

Next, Noji will voice Rocket Angel in the upcoming real-time strategy(RTS) video game "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3." She is also working in her upcoming film project, "Bitch Slap," directed by Rick Jacobson and stars Julia Voth, Erin Cummings, America Olivo, as well as Michael Hurst, with cameos by Lucy Lawless, Kevin Sorbo, and Renée O'Connor.

On the stage, Noji has been chosen from thousands to be one of the female cast members of “Miss Saigon,” the highly praised play that had long Broadway run.

She also launched unique handmade women's fashion accessories called “EmyMina” with her business partner, Emy Coligado. Some profits of her line, which designs and produces for such boutiques as Fred Segal and Planet Blue, go to Save the Children Fund and the Make a Wish Foundation.

Awards:
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