To Lure a Predator
By ALEX ISAO HERBACK
Rafu Staff Writer
Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008

We chat with “To Catch a Predator” decoy Dani Miura about her career, her childhood and what it feels like to hug a pedophile.

Photos courtesy of Dani Miura
Dani staying jovial on the set of “To Catch a Predator.”
The normally black-haired actress had to wear the
wig to satisfy a man’s festish for blonds.

Dani Miura is prolific. A reporter prematurely told her so in a recent interview, only to correct himself later when he realized she had hardly begun discussing her myriad skills and interests.

She started acting when she was 7-years old. Since she felt unchallenged by the work, she started singing professionally at the same age. For a hobby, Dani started swimming, only to find out she was pretty good at that too. She qualified for the junior Olympics in the 100m breaststroke and butter­fly, and in high school, had the second fastest time in the same two events—in the country. Oh, and she dances as well. (She was a featured performer for world-famous choreographer Avnun Yakubov’s production of “Bambi.”)

So what comes next? A full-ride scholarship to a four-year university? An apprenticeship with the greatest ballet conservatory in Russia? No—not that some of these weren’t options for her. She decided instead to leave home at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career in Los Angeles.

Naturally, she has had several different roles since coming to L.A. She played a high school student on a field trip from hell in “The Oakley Seven,” and appeared with one of her he­roes—Mel Gibson—in “Payback.”

But neither can quite compare to her experi­ence playing a decoy for the sting program “To Catch a Predator.” One of the most popu­lar shows on NBC, this Dateline ancillary monitors online chat forums for suspected pedophiles and uses actresses to lure them to a house where they will be interviewed and later arrested on camera. Dani plays one of these decoys—asked to anywhere from 11 to 13-years old—for the show.

Why would she do this?

“I’m giving back in a way as much as can as an actor,” she said about her reason for taking the job.

The Rafu discussed the show with the actress recently, as well as her experi­ences growing up, how she got into act­ing, and what it feels like to be hugged by a pedophile.

The Rafu: Where did you grow up?

Dani Miura: I grew up in Chicago. I was pretty much born and raised in came out [to L.A.] when was 16.

Rafu: What kind of things did you do growing up?

DM: I did pretty much anything. I did the whole acting thing since was 7; singing professionally since was 7. And also danced. I played basketball, I horseback rode, I did gymnastics. My mom threw me in everything knowing ‘okay, well, she’ll find what she likes if I throw her in everything and she can quit what she doesn’t like.’ Well never really didn’t like anything did. I was doing four or five things as a kid.

Rafu: That must have kept you busy all the time.

DM: It kept me from doing anything bad because didn’t have time to do any­thing else. At seven years old wanted a career already. That doesn’t sound normal but that’s what wanted to do. Right when did, knew could not live without it. It’s just my passion.

Rafu: You’re talking about acting.

DM: Acting and singing. I just got up on the stage or got on a microphone in front of the camera and that was it. You couldn’t hold me back. That was what wanted to do.

Rafu: Which do you like more?

DM: Oh boy, really? [laughs] couldn’t live without either of them to be honest. They’re re so equal in my mind. I enjoy them both equally.

Rafu: Okay, that’s fair. What got you into acting then?

DM: For some reason was a weird little kid that loved pageants. My mom hated them and never wanted to put me in them. But for some reason loved the competition. So I was at the mall having my picture taken for a pageant. It wasn’t the normal, glamour, tons of makeup stuff. It was simple. And the guy taking the picture said, ‘Wow, you’re beautiful, you’re so exotic. Have you ever thought of modeling?’ And was seven years old and I’m going, ‘No. But I am interested!’ I started classes at [Barbizon Modeling and Acting School] and they said that was very outgoing and asked how about acting?

Rafu: So you were the one to broach the subject of acting? It wasn’t your mom?

DM: No, not at all! She let me do it because enjoyed it, but she didn’t want me doing that stuff. She just wanted me to be normal and be a kid. But didn’t want to be that way.

Rafu: She wanted you to be a kid and you wanted to grow up and get a job.

DM: [Laughs] Yeah, pretty much. It’s kind of the opposite of the normal child actor type thing.

Rafu: When you moved to L.A. was that with your mother’s blessing?

DM: It took a lot for her. I was hard on both of us because we were very close. We knew that if I wanted to do acting, that was the best time to do it. So me and my mom made a deal. If you get an offer from an agent, I’ll let you go and I’ll get you a legal guardian. And that’s exactly what happened.

Rafu: How did you get in touch with the “To Catch a Predator” people?

DM: My manager knew my back­ground, knew that my parents were in law enforcement and asked if would consider doing it. And said would love doing something like that. I went out to audition and like 30 seconds later, booked it.

Rafu: What were they looking for in a decoy?

DM: think they were looking for someone who was enthusiastic about doing this and wouldn’t be freaked out. Someone who wanted to do it for the ‘helping out’ part of it, as opposed to the acting/publicity/exposure part of it. To be honest, didn’t think was go­ing to get any exposure out of it. It was more for helping people and knowing that maybe if do this could save a few little kids from getting hurt.

Rafu: But you knew what you were getting yourself into.

DM: Oh yeah. I had never seen the show, but my manager was very thorough in telling me exactly what needed to go on this interview, that needed to know that would be in the direct vicinity of a pedophile, be on the phone with one, be on a Web cam with one. But I had all the protection in the world. I knew what was getting myself into and never once felt unsafe.

Rafu: Really?

DM: Really. [Laugh] I mean, there were a couple of times where it was a little creepy. But knew that no matter what they would not let me get hurt.

Rafu: So they took a lot of precau­tions then to protect you.

DM: Honestly, any one of the people that worked on this, the vol­unteers, the guys that actually type, the people that work with Perverted Justice [the group which monitors pe­dophiles through online chat rooms], they would risk their own lives to save mine because they would not want me to get hurt.

Rafu: Were there any close calls?

DM: got about four hugs. That would definitely be considered a close call. Right away, Chris Hansen [the Dateline reporter who spearheads the show] would pop out and ask him, ‘So, you want to give me a hug?’ just wanted to get him the interview. Some­times didn’t realize they were close enough to hug me.

Rafu: Were you supposed to let them get that close to you?

DM: Technically, no. They gave me a little bit of an idea how far they wanted to keep him from me. But some of the guys were too quick. For the first guy I did, we had been testing out the ear mic and it was fine. But all of a sudden I go to do it and hear, ‘go to position one.’ And that’s the last thing hear. They had been telling me to go to position three because he was at the door. But I didn’t hear anything because the sound dropped. So for my first ever one, that was a little scary.

Rafu: So what did you do? Did in­stinct take over?

DM: Well, pretty much. He started walking quicker and quicker and I’m trying to run back because he’s at the door. I answer the door and he’s right there. And you could tell he was trying to give me a hug and was like, “Uh-oh! I need to walk a little quicker.” guess didn’t walk fast enough because had to look casual, like had been talking to this guy online for a few days.

Rafu: So are you in the room when the Perverted Justice people are chatting with these guys?

DM: Yeah. The first day was just watching them type to these people, getting to know who’s who, getting to know what to say to these guys each day. For each person, you have to incorporate something different from each conversa­tion so it seems like was the one talking to them. So sometimes it would be ‘did you bring the weed?’ or ‘did you bring the condoms?’ that sort of thing. The rest is pretty much improvised.

Rafu: It’s improvised?

DM: All the things the decoys say are pretty much improvised. They would give you some things to say, but every­thing else is in your own words.

Rafu: Did you ever freeze or did you take to it naturally?

DM: I took to it pretty naturally. In my head, I was trying to go, ‘I’m an actress. I’m playing a role. I need to do this without freaking out.’ Because when you freak out, you’re going to freeze and not know what to say.

Rafu: What kind of conversations do you have with these guys? What’s small talk like with a pedophile?

DM: I have pretty long conversations. Some are 5-10 minute conversations. Once I was outside with a guy and I had a good 20-minute conversation. We just talked about what was said online, or what we wanted to do. Which was sometimes creepy. I would ask them what they wanted to do and some of them would just whip out the condoms and say, ‘Okay, I’m ready.’

Rafu: So mostly your conversations revolved around sex?

DM: Oh, yeah. I don’t think there was much other than that. There was this one guy who was a musician and we talked a little about music and he wanted me to sing. But mostly the conversations were pretty sexual.

Rafu: Do you adjust to it? Is there some kind of post-traumatic stress that you have to get past? It seems like you’re pretty at ease with the process.

Rafu: The first time was hard. If I mess this up, not only am I on national television, but also I’m talking to real pedophiles so the second you mess up, it’s over. I couldn’t think of that. So I told myself I needed to do this.

Rafu: What kind of personalities do these guys have? Do they have any characteristics they share?

DM: It’s scary because most of the people are so normal. You would look at them on the street and think they were totally mentally sane. Some of these guys would come in and I would sympathize with them because they are such sweet guys. They’re very good at turning on that ‘care about me, I’m really a sweet guy, just do this for me’ kind of thing. Every little kid would think that they were a normal human being. And that’s a really scary thing.

Rafu: Have any of these guys seen the show?

DM: A lot of them actually. A lot of them would ask in their conversations if I’m from ‘To Catch a Predator’ or if I’m a police officer.

Rafu: I assume they’re joking.

DM: Sometimes they’re dead serious and expecting you to answer that you’re a police officer.

Rafu: You recently turned 20-years old. But when you’re talking to these guys, do 11-year-old words come natural to you?

DM: I had to study younger people and get back in touch with how younger people are now. I just went people watching. I sat in a park and watched some kids talk. I definitely had to raise my voice to sound a little younger.

Rafu: There were already a couple of decoys on the show before you were hired. Did they tell you why they wanted another decoy?

DM: Well I don’t think I can do ‘To Catch a Predator’ again because my face is out there and they’re not going to go after me anymore. Most of the time they only keep the decoys on for a couple of episodes because people will catch on.

Rafu: Do you ever get recognized on the street?

DM: Actually I have, especially when the show first came on. I had everyone going, ‘You’re the pedophile girl!’ on the street. You don’t really know how to respond to something like that.

Rafu: So what’s keeping you busy these days?

DM: Pretty much, I’ve been focusing a lot on singing. There’s the writer’s strike so there’s not a lot going on right now in terms of acting. I’m going out to Nashville because I’m recording my first Christian album. I’m making more of my singing career because there aren’t any auditions.