Tia Carrere

**Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo** (born January 2, 1967), known professionally as **Tia Carrere**, is an American actress, singer and former model who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera *General Hospital*. She voiced Nani in *Lilo & Stitch*.

## Film and television career

Following this success, Carrere returned to Los Angeles, and after working several months as a model, landed her first 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, however, 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 karate instructor, and 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 on *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's character, Wayne Campbell, 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 first film, 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* named her to its annual "50 most beautiful people" list.

Other roles in prominent films include the parts of wealthy smuggler Juno Skinner in *True Lies,* a 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger action film; a mixed African-Japanese computer expert in *Rising Sun,* a thriller co-written for the screen by Michael Crichton and based on his novel, starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes; robber Gina Walker in *The Immortals* in 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 versus Kevin Sorbo, and starred in late-'90s M&M's commercials as herself. At the end of the decade, she was cast as Ana Ishikawa in the motion picture of the comic book character *Shi*, but the film wasn't concreted.

Carrere at the premiere for *Up* in May 2009

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 the 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 & 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,* but her "apprenticeship" to Donald Trump, the "boss" of the show, was terminated in that season's fifth week.

Carrere posed nude for the January 2003 issue of *Playboy*. The photos were republished in the German December 2006 issue of the magazine. 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 six of *Curb Your Enthusiasm* as Richard Lewis's girlfriend. In 2020, Carrere began a regular role as Lady Danger on the Netflix series *AJ and the Queen.*

## Music career

Carrere has continued to nurture her singing career. In 1993, her first solo album, *Dream*, produced by Matt Prinz, 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 in 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*.

## Trivia

* She was under consideration for the title role in *Mulan* before it went to Ming-Na Wen.