Tia Carrere was born Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo on January 2, 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is the eldest of three sisters and two half-sisters. While attending Sacred Hearts Academy school for girls, Tia was discovered in a Waikiki grocery store and landed the female lead in the indie movie Aloha Summer. Although her passion has always been singing (grandmother Rae took Tia to her first singing lesson at age ten), Tia would continue her ascent in the acting world with a regular stint on General Hospital as "Jade Soong" and a string of co-starring roles on MacGyver, Quantum Leap and Friday the 13th, among others. It wasn't until her breakthrough role as "Cassandra" in the Wayne's World films that Tia was able to showcase both her singing and acting chops. Wayne's World was a worldwide phenom and set the stage for her villainous "Juno Skinner" in True Lies opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, computer whiz "Jingo Asakuma" in Rising Sun opposite Sean Connery and her own series lead of "Sydney Fox" on Relic Hunter. Other current TV work has included appearing on the 2007 season premiere of Nip/Tuck, on Kelsey Grammer's Back To You, and recurring as Cha Cha on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. Recently Tia returned to her Hawaiian roots with her voice work in Disney's Lilo & Stitch films and series as well as her Grammy-nominated CD " hawaiiana ".
Was offered a role on Baywatch Hawaii but turned it down so she could audition for Wayne's World. Worked as a model. She is a singer. Released an album called "Dream." Heritage is "part Chinese, part Spanish, part Filipino." Her little sister could not say "Althea", it came out "Tia." Had a body double used in nude hot tub scene in the film Showdown in Little Tokyo. As Cassandra in Wayne's World, she performed all her songs as the singer and featured on the soundtrack. Was an acting contestant on Star Search in 1985; she lost in her first round. Has a recording studio at home. Featured in Playboy Magazine, January 2003 edition Named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by people magazine (1992) She ranked # 69 in FHM-USA's 100 Sexiest Women (2001) Studied acting in the same class with actor Casper Van Dien. Cousin of "Maria Antenorcruz". Daughter, Bianca, born 25 September 2005 in Los Angeles, California. Her husband, Simon Wakelin, is a British photojournalist. Ethnicity: Mixed like fellow actresses Kelly Hu, Vanessa Anne Hudgens', Jessica Anderson, Devon Aoki, Moon Bloodgood, China Chow, Kristin Kreuk, Jaymee Ong, Maggie Q, Nicole Scherzinger, Monica Young and actors Anthony Begonia, Andrew Johnston, Brandon Lee, Keanu Reeves, Rob Schneider, Russell Wong and Michael Wong.