Tia Carrere

Infobox Actor
name = Tia Carrere

---

caption = Tia Carrere in 2004
birthname = Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo
birthdate = birth date and age|1967|1|2
location = Honolulu, Hawaii
occupation = actress, model, singer

Tia Carrere (born January 2 1967) is an American actress, model, and singer, perhaps most widely known for her role as Cassandra in the feature films "Wayne's World" and "Wayne's World 2" and as Sydney Fox in the TV series "Relic Hunter".

Biography

Early life

Carrere was born Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Audrey, a computer supervisor, and Alexander Janairo, a banker. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/0/Tia-Carrere.html Tia Carrere Biography (1965-) ] ] She is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Hawaiian ancestry. [ [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADE09DEDC2B0A4&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Boston.com Local Search - Boston Globe Archives ] ] [ [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=RM&p_theme=rm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4DD9486FC7911&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Rocky Mountain News: Archives ] ] 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 the parents of a local producer while shopping at a Waikiki grocery store and was cast in the b-movie "Aloha Summer".

Film and television career

Following this initial success, Carrere relocated to Los Angeles and, after working several months as a model, landed a first ever role in the U.S. TV series "Airwolf" in early 1985. Her first major break though 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 "The A-Team", which was supposed to lead to her joining the cast. Unfortunately, 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's 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.

On November 22, 1992, Carrere married Italian/Lebanese producer Elie Samaha, and appeared in several of his films. Other roles in prominent films include the parts of terrorist 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.

From 1999 to 2002, Tia 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 lad mag "Maxim" magazine. "Relic Hunter" lasted for a total of three television seasons before its cancellation. 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 participated as a contestant on the popular reality show "Dancing with the Stars" but after landing on her bottom more than once, she was eliminated on February 3, 2006, placing 6th in the competition overall.

Despite using a body double for her sex scenes in "Showdown in Little Tokyo", and her often expressed aversion to on-screen nudity, Carrere posed nude for the January 2003 issue of "Playboy" magazine. It was the top selling Playboy month of 2003. The photos were re-published in the German December 2006 issue of the magazine.

In 2007, she was set to have a recurring role on "Curb Your Enthusiasm". On October 17, 2007, Carrere appeared in an episode of "Back to You". On October 30, 2007, Carrere appeared in the season premiere of "Nip/Tuck".

In 2007, she did a brief, non-nude lesbian kissing scene with Lindy Booth in "Dark Honeymoon", which wasn't released until 2008 due to the death of co-star Roy Scheider.

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 "", performing the ending theme, "I Never Even Told You". In August of 2003, Carrere was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Her second album, "Hawaiiana", was released in June 2007 and takes Carrere back to her Hawaiian roots with three-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.

Personal life

Carrere divorced her husband Elie Samaha in February 2000. On December 31, 2002, she married again, this time to photojournalist Simon Wakelin. They have a daughter, Bianca, born September 25, 2005. At present, she lives in Toronto, Canada.

Filmography

*"Zombie Nightmare" (1986)
*"Noble House" (1988)
*"Aloha Summer" (1988)
*"Fine Gold" (1989)
*"The Road Raiders" (1989)
*"Fatal Mission" (1990)
*"Instant Karma" (1990)
*"Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" (1991)
*"Showdown in Little Tokyo" (1991)
*"Little Sister" (1992)
*"Intimate Stranger" (1992)
*"Wayne's World" (1992)
*"Rising Sun" (1993)
*"Quick" (1993)
*"Wayne's World 2" (1993)
*"Hostile Intentions" (1994)
*"Treacherous" (1994)
*"True Lies" (1994)
*"My Teacher's Wife" (1995)
*"The Immortals" (1995)
*"The Daedalus Encounter" (1995)
*"Jury Duty" (1995)
*"Hollow Point" (1996)
*"High School High" (1996)
*"Top of the World" (1997)
*"Kull the Conqueror" (1997)
*"20 Dates" (1998)
*"Dogboys" (1998)
*"Scar City" (1998)
*"" (1999)
*"Meet Prince Charming" (1999)
*"Five Aces" (1999)
*"The Night of the Headless Horseman" (1999) (voice)
*"Lilo & Stitch" (2002) (voice)
*"Stitch! The Movie" (2003) (voice)
*"Torn Apart" (2004)
*"Back in the Day" (2005)
*"Aloha, Scooby-Doo!" (2005) (voice)
*"" (2005) (voice)
*"Supernova—The Day the World Catches Fire" (2005)
*"Leroy & Stitch (2006) (voice)
*"Saints Row" (2006) (game voice)
*"Dark Honeymoon" (2007)

TV appearances

*"Cover Up"
*"Airwolf"
*"General Hospital"
*"The A-Team"
*"Tour of Duty"
*"MacGyver"
*"Anything But Love"
*""
*"Quantum Leap"
*"Married... with Children"
*"Tales from the Crypt"
*"" (voice)
*"Murder One"
*"Veronica's Closet"
*"" (voice)
*"Relic Hunter"
*"Duck Dodgers" (voice)
*"" (voice)
*"Megas XLR" (voice)
*"Johnny Bravo" (voice)
*"" (voice)
*"Dancing with the Stars" - season 2
*"The O.C."
*"Curb Your Enthusiasm"
*"Nip/Tuck"
*"Back To You"

References

External links

* [http://www.tiacarrere.com Official website of Tia Carrere]
*imdb name|id=0000119|name=Tia Carrere