[2] Mizuno was born Maya Igarashi on 1 January 1937 in Sanjō Niigata prefecture, Japan.

She enrolled and eventually graduated from an acting school and began a professional career in film in 1957 in Crazy Society (Shochiku).

[3] In 1958 she appeared in Nemuri Kyōshirō: Record of an Outlaw : Demon-blade Hell (Toho).

Her most famous roles include Miss Namikawa in Invasion of Astro-Monster, Dr. Sueko Togami in Frankenstein Conquers the World, and the island girl Dayo in Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster.

She would later work with Honda in Attack of the Mushroom People, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Gorath, Invasion of Astro-Monster and The War of the Gargantuas.