Tia Carrere was born Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo on January 2, 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii. While attending Sacred Hearts Academy, Tia was discovered in a Waikiki grocery store and landed the female lead in the indie movie Aloha Summer (1988). 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 (1963) as Jade Soong and a string of co-starring roles on MacGyver (1985),Quantum Leap (1989) and Friday's Curse (1987), among others. It was not until her breakthrough role as Cassandra Wong 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 the evil Juno Skinner in True Lies (1994), opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, computer whiz Jingo Asakuma in Rising Sun (1993), opposite Sean Connery, and her own series lead of Sydney Fox on Relic Hunter (1999).
Other current television work has included appearing on the 2007 season premiere ofNip/Tuck (2003), on Kelsey Grammer's Back to You (2007), and recurring as Cha Cha on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (1999). Recently, Tia returned to her Hawaiian roots with her voice work on Disney's Lilo & Stitch films and series as well as her Grammy-nominated CD "Hawaiiana".
Tia Carrere was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. While attending Sacred Hearts Academy, 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, among others. It was not until her breakthrough role as Cassandra Wong 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 the evil 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 television and film work includes appearing on Nip/Tuck, Back to You, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Lilo & Stitch.
Musically, Tia returned to her Hawaiian roots with four Grammy-nominated CDs, winning the Grammy twice in 2010 and 2012 where she also co-hosted and performed during the ceremony.