​Rika Nakanishi was born and raised in Kobe, Japan. Her father was a fashion designer and together with her mother, her parents owned a clothing line and a boutique. Her father was also a writer of film reviews for publications and magazines in Japan. He took young Rika along with him to screenings and gave her a unique window from which to view the construction of film and the telling of a good story. At an early age, Rika was also a sponsored skateboarder and was competing as one of a few female sponsored skaters at that time. Rika moved to Los Angeles in 1990, and studied fine arts for a few years under acclaimed artist, Martin Lubner. He taught her how to see things in a unique way and to listen to her own inner voice which takes courage. Both her Asian background as well as her exposure to American culture added an original East-West flavor to visually tell stories. Rika studied film at UCLA and shortly after graduation started to work with a Production Designer, Tom Brown for a number of years. Beginning her career as an art director during the late 1990s, Rika worked on various hip-hop related shows for BET featuring, to name just a few, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige and many more. Rika then took on the challenge of becoming a production designer crossing over to commercials and feature films. This gave her the opportunity to expand her creativity into other medias as well; music videos, theme park designs, and restaurant and hotel designs. Rika has traveled extensively and has worked on various films and commercials in the United States (Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Mexico, New York, Boston, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, Cincinnati, Tucson, Hawaii), Canada (Vancouver), the Pacific Rims (Japan, China, Hong Kong, Korea) and South Africa.  No matter in what city or what country she works in, she skillfully puts together a crew of locals that get the job done on time and on budget. Rika, fluent in both English and Japanese, plans to continue her never-ending journey while always discovering new things. She surfs and plays golf regularly, and keeps her home base in Los Angeles; however, she also enjoys her second home in Japan.