Maria Ozawa is a Japanese model and a former pornographic film actress of Canadian and Japanese ancestry. Early in her career as a model, she also used the name Miyabi. Ozawa was born in Hokkaido, Japan. Her father is French Canadian and her mother is Japanese. Ozawa graduated from the Christian Academy in Japan, and has asserted that she has a higher ability to read and write English than Japanese. Ozawa played ice hockey daily, and often sang karaoke after classes. She has revealed that she became sexually active at the age of 13. In 2002, when she was 16, Ozawa debuted in a 30-second Japanese TV commercial for DARS Chocolate alongside the Japanese pop duo KinKi Kids. Ozawa is featured sharing chocolate with one of the two singers while secretly holding hands with the other. Ozawa discovered adult videos by watching sex tapes she borrowed from a friend's brother. Unlike most AV actresses, Ozawa was not scouted. She was introduced to the industry by a friend who appeared in AVs. She began by modeling in June 2005 under the name Miyabi for the pornographic site Shirouto-Teien.com, which resulted in several sets of photographs and a short hardcore gonzo which was video released in CD-R and DVD-R formats. She was then signed by S1 No. 1 Style, an AV studio that produces hardcore pornography. On October 7, 2005, she premiered as Maria Ozawa with the video New Face – Number One Style, directed by Hideto Aki. Ozawa remembers that she was so nervous during the filming of her first AV that she could not look at her co-star in the face. At S1, Ozawa subsequently appeared in one original video per month until February 2007. She was involved in several S1 compilation videos including the company's entry in the 2006 AV Open, a competition between Japanese AV studios for the best selling video. The S1 video Hyper – Barely There Mosaic, featuring Ozawa along with other AV idols Sora Aoi, Yua Aida, Yuma Asami, and Honoka, won first place. In early 2007, Ozawa, along with Rin Suzuka, Reina Matsushima and Rin Aoki, left S1 with its emphasis on glamour to a new start-up company, DAS, which featured graphic scenes of creampie and simulated rape. On April 25, 2007, DAS released their first videos, with Ozawa starring in. By the end of 2007, she signed with Attackers, an established AV studio that specializes in thematic rape pornography. Ozawa has also appeared in V-Cinema films, a photobook, and several glamour videos. In 2007, she played the character Anita on a popular Japanese TV drama, Tokumei Kakarichō Tadano Hitoshi on TV Asahi. She also was on a 2007 episode of the Japanese variety show Megami no hatena on Nihon TV as part of a series with AV actresses telling why they went into AV work. She has also appeared on Japanese MTV with the hip hop artist Seamo and in the 2007 music video "Summer Time in the D.S.C." with the Yokohama hip hop group DS455. Ozawa could be seen in 2007 performing twice at the Shinjuku striptease bar "Shinjuku New Art". She took dance lessons to prepare but was still very nervous. She danced in a variety of outfits, including appearing as a belly-dancer, a geisha and a cowgirl. Three videos were released of her performance and a behind-the-scenes interview.