Hailing from Tōkyō, Mizuna Rei (みづなれい) debuted in 2008 as an exclusive actress for Alice Japan, which was one of the top studios at the time. There, she starred in seven videos, including a cosplay one, which would be the first of many.
Her surname, Mizuna, is named after the mizuna vegetable, and her given name is named after Ayanami Rei, one of the main characters of the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which she is a mega-fan of.
In 2009, Rei became a freelance performer, and worked with a wide variety of studios. One such studio was TMA, for which she starred in numerous cosplay videos, often with their main male star Narusawa "Gorō" Ken'ichi. The two quickly became friends, which led to fans shipping them as a couple.
Rei showed great versatility in her videos; in one video she'd be an innocent schoolgirl, in another she'd be a fearsome dominatrix. Regardless of the role, she'd portray it impeccably.
She soon started pushing the boundaries by delving into edgier genres, from restraint videos to piss ones. And yes, even a certain ocular themed video. It seemed she was up for pretty much anything.
Rei pushed the boundaries in other ways, too. From 2013, she began to star in uncensored videos for Tokyo Hot and Dreamroom Productions, which would be released over the next few years.
She also appeared in several pink films, including for Okura Pictures. Rei was the star of the 2013 film, Zombie Bride, in which she plays a very endearing zombie. She also made a brief appearance in the 2014 film, The Torture Club.
In 2014, Rei dropped a bombshell on Twitter. Despite originally claiming to be born in 1987, she now revealed she had been born three years prior. Of course, AV actresses lying about their ages is nothing new, but Rei handled it in the greatest way, directing her own video about the revelation, RCT-695: Whoa! Mizuna Rei Misled Us About Her Age. She's Actually 30. In this tongue-in-cheek video, Rei holds a press conference in which she apologises for her deception, before hitching up her skirt and showing off her sexy body. It's a JAV, after all.
At one point, Rei was seemingly in a romantic relationship with voice actress Asakawa Yū, whom you may know as the voice of Vocaloid Megurine Luka, Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh and Rider from Fate/stay night and its spin-offs. They both expressed a wish to get married. It's clear they had a lot of affection for each other.
Rei is an avid cyclist. In 2015, she formed a cycling team – Team Bukkake – with fellow AV performers Abeno Miku and Kasai Ami, as well as cosplayer Kishiko. They made their racing debut at the May 2016 GSR Cup.
In 2016, Rei announced that after eight years in the business, she would be retiring from AV. This resulted in a handful of retirement works from a few studios, including Radix, Dogma and KM Produce. TMA, one of the studios she was most closely associated with, released not just her final cosplay video, but also two VR videos.
Since retiring, Rei continues to show her love of Evangelion in front of the camera by cosplaying its characters, and also being a model and director of its official apparel brand, Radio EVA.
On 15th June 2022, Rei made her first in-person appearance in nearly six years at Girl's Bar Vivi. In May 2023, she represented sex toy manufacturer TamaToys at the Adult Game & Anime Expo in Taiwan. There, she thanked her fans for continuing to show their support by watching her many videos.
You can follow Mizuna Rei on X (formerly Twitter).