Tia Carrere (born Althea Rae Janairo; January 2, 1967) is an American actress, model, voice artist, and singer who obtained her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera General Hospital.

She is most widely known for her roles as Cassandra Wong in the feature films Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2, as Nani in Lilo & Stitch, its sequel films and Lilo & Stitch: The Series, as Queen Tyr'ahnee in Duck Dodgers, and as Sydney Fox in the syndicated television series Relic Hunter, and for her participations as a contestant in the second season of the United States version of Dancing with the Stars and the fifth season of The Celebrity Apprentice.

Early life

Carrere was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Filipino parents, Audrey Duhinio Janairo, a computer supervisor, and Alexander Janairo, a banker. Carrere identifies herself as being of "Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese descent ... raised in Hawaii." Carrere attended Sacred Heart Academy, an all-girls school. Carrere longed to be a singer as a child. Although she was eliminated during the first round of her 1985 Star Search appearance at the age of 17, she was spotted by a local producer while shopping at a Waikiki grocery store and was cast in the movie Aloha Summer, which he produced and had a cameo in.

Film and television career

Following this initial success, Carrere returned to Los Angeles, California and, after working several months as a model, landed a first ever role in the American television series Airwolf in early 1985. Her first major breakthrough was in the daytime soap opera General Hospital. She played the role of Jade Soong Chung from 1985 to 1987. She also had a guest appearance on Tour of Duty and The A-Team, which was supposed to lead to her joining the cast; her General Hospital obligations prevented her from joining the team. Her character was dropped after one episode, and was never mentioned again. She also made guest appearances on the shows MacGyver ("The Wish Child") as a sexy karate instructor, as well as a different assassin character in a later episode ("Murderer's Sky"), on Anything But Love as the adopted daughter of Marty Gold (Richard Lewis), and Married... with Children as Piper Bauman, a rival of Kelly Bundy, who attempted to steal a modeling job from her.

After appearing in the 1991 action films Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man and Showdown in Little Tokyo, she emerged into the public spotlight when cast as Cassandra, a rock singer and love interest of Mike Myers' character Wayne in Wayne's World (1992)"?a role she reprised the next year in Wayne's World 2. A trained singer, Carrere performed all of her own songs in the two films, and the Wayne's World soundtrack features her vocals. She turned down a role in Baywatch to audition for Wayne's World. In 1992, People magazine named her to its annual "50 most beautiful people" list.

Other roles in prominent films include the parts of smuggler Juno Skinner in True Lies (a 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger action film), a mixed African-Japanese computer expert in Rising Sun (a thriller written by Michael Crichton starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes), robber Gina Walker in The Immortals (1995), and secretary Victoria Chappell in High School High (a 1996 parody). She also starred as Ari, a space marine-turned pirate in the 1995 adventure/puzzle game The Daedalus Encounter. She also starred as the evil witch/queen in the 1997 Universal Films picture Kull the Conqueror, co-starring with Kevin Sorbo and starred in late 90's M&M's commercials as herself.

From 1999 to 2002, Carrere starred as archeology professor Sydney Fox in Relic Hunter, a syndicated action-adventure series strongly reminiscent of the Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider films and video games. At this time, Carrere was featured in men's magazine Maxim. Relic Hunter lasted for a total of three contracted television seasons. Carrere then provided the voice of Lilo's sister "Nani" in the animated film Lilo and Stitch (2002) and its spinoffs, as well as the voice of Queen Tyr'ahnee from the 2003 Duck Dodgers animated series. She also provided the voice of Snookie in the 2005 animated film Aloha, Scooby-Doo!.

She participated as a contestant on the popular reality show Dancing with the Stars, and eventually placed sixth overall. Carrere later participated in the fifth season of The Celebrity Apprentice and was axed in the fifth week of the show.

Carrere posed nude for the January 2003 issue of Playboy magazine. It was the top-selling Playboy of 2003. The photos were republished in the German December 2006 issue of the magazine. Recently, she has appeared as a guest star on a number of television shows, including Back to You, Nip/Tuck, and Warehouse 13. She has also appeared in several episodes of season 6 of Curb Your Enthusiasm as Richard Lewis's girlfriend.

Music career

Carrere has continued to nurture her singing career. In 1993, her first solo album, Dream, was released, and went platinum in the Philippines. That same year, she was featured on the soundtrack of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, performing the ending theme, "I Never Even Told You". Her second album, Hawaiiana, was released in June 2007 and takes Carrere back to her Hawaiian roots with four-time Grammy Award winning record producer Daniel Ho accompanying her on classic solo slack-key guitar and ukulele. The album was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award under the category Best Hawaiian Music Album.

In 2009, she acted as co-host for the pre-Grammy Awards telecast online event alongside Wayne Brady.

She won a Grammy Award in 2009 for her third album 'Ikena, which was also produced by Ho, and was a finalist at the 2010 for He Nani, the third album she had recorded with Ho as her producer.

In 2011, she won another Grammy Award (Best Hawaiian Music Album) for her album Huana Ke Aloha.

Personal life

Carrere married film producer Elie Samaha in 1992. In 1999, she was accused of having an affair with then Toronto Maple Leaf Tie Domi who was also married. Samaha and Carrere divorced in February 2000.

On November 30, 2002, she married again, this time to photojournalist Simon Wakelin. They have a daughter, Bianca, born September 25, 2005. On April 2, 2010, Carrere filed for divorce in person at Los Angeles Superior Court. According to court documents she cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce and asked for sole physical custody of their daughter Bianca. Their divorce was finalized in August 2010, with the two of them reportedly sharing custody of Bianca. At present, she lives in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film

• Zombie Nightmare (1986) - Amy
• Aloha Summer (1988) - Lani Kepoo
• Fine Gold (1989)
• The Road Raiders (1989) - Cyanne
• Fatal Mission (1990)
• Instant Karma (1990)
• Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) - Kimiko
• Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) - Minako Okeya
• Little Sister (1992)
• Intimate Stranger (1992)
• Wayne's World (1992) - Cassandra Wong
• Rising Sun (1993) - Jingo Asakuma
• Quick (1993) - Janet Sakamoto
• Wayne's World 2 (1993) - Cassandra Wong
• Hostile Intentions (1994) - Nora
• Treacherous (1994)
• True Lies (1994) - Juno Skinner
• My Teacher's Wife (1995) - Vicky Mueller
• The Immortals (1995)
• Jury Duty (1995) - Monica Lewis
• Hollow Point (1996) - Diane Norwood
• High School High (1996) - Victoria Chapell

• Top of the World (1997) - Rebecca Mercer
• Kull the Conqueror (1997) - Akivasha
• 20 Dates (1998) - Herself
• Dogboys (1998) - D.A. Jennifer Dern
• Scar City (1998) - Candy
• Merlin: The Return (1999) - Dr. Joan Maxwell
• Meet Prince Charming (1999) - Samantha Feld
• Five Aces (1999) - Karen Haggerty
• The Night of the Headless Horseman (1999) - Katrina Van Tassel (voice)
• Lilo & Stitch (2002) - Nani (voice)
• Stitch! The Movie (2003) - Nani (voice)
• Torn Apart (2004) - Vicki Westin
• Back in the Day (2005) - Loot
• Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005) - Snookie, Local Woman #1 (voice)
• Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005) - Nani (voice)
• Supernova"?The Day the World Catches Fire (2005) - Lisa Delgado
• Leroy & Stitch (2006) - Nani (voice)
• Dark Honeymoon (2008) - Miranda
• Wild Cherry (2009) - Ms. Haumea
• Hard Breakers (2009) - Jodie
• You May Not Kiss the Bride (2010) - Lani
• Collision Course (2012) - Kate Parks

Television

• Cover Up (1985) - Philippines Contestant
• Airwolf (1985) - Kiki Tinabi
• General Hospital (1985) - Jade Soong Chung, R.N.
• The A-Team (1986) - Tia
• Tour of Duty (1987)
• Noble House (1988) - Venus Poon
• MacGyver (1986, 1988) - Lisa Chan, Tiu
• Anything But Love (1989) - Cey
• Friday the 13th: The Series (1990) - Michiko Tanaka
• Quantum Leap (1990) - Chu-Hoi
• Married... with Children (1990) - Piper Bauman
• Tales from the Crypt (1992) - Scarlett
• Relic Hunter (1999"2002) - Sydney Fox
• Duck Dodgers (2003-2005) - Queen Tyr'ahnee, Flight Attendant, Cheerleader, Cosmetics Manager, Lieutenant O'Hara (voice)
• Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003-2006) Nani (voice)
• Megas XLR (2004) - Darklos (voice)
• Johnny Bravo (2005) - Beautiful Woman, Female Elephant, Woman (voice)
• American Dragon: Jake Long (2005) - Yan Yan (voice)
• Dancing with the Stars season 2
• The O.C. (2006) - Dean Torres
• Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007) - Cha Cha
• Nip/Tuck (2007) - Mistress Dark Pain
• Back To You (2007) - Maggie
• CSI: Miami (2009) - Jacqueline Parsons
• Warehouse 13 (2010) - Agent Kate Logan
• Combat Hospital (2011) - Jessica Draycott
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2011-2013) - Judy Reeves, Old Daphne, Waitress, Sullen Female Farmer, Amy (voice)
• The Celebrity Apprentice (2012)
• In Plain Sight (2012) - Lia Hernandez

Video games

• The Daedalus Encounter (1995) - Ari Matheson
• Saints Row (2006) - Lin (voice)

This biography article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tia Carrere". Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions this article may contain.