Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo (born January 2, 1967), known professionally as Tia Carrere, is an American actress, voice actress, singer and model who obtained her first big break as a regular on the daytime Soap Opera General Hospital in 1985 as Jade Soong.
She's most famous for playing Cassandra in Wayne's World and its sequel, and as Sydney Fox in Relic Hunter.
As a voice actress, she's known for being the voice of Nani Pelekai in Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise and as The Martian Queen Tyr'ahnee in Duck Dodgers.
She is of Chinese, Filipino, and Spanish descent. She married photojournalist Simon Wakelin in 2002, with whom she had a daughter, Bianca, born in September 2005. The couple divorced in 2010, both sharing custody of their daughter.
Selected Filmography
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Live-Action Films
- Zombie Nightmare (1987) as Amy
- Aloha Summer (1988) as Lani
- The Road Raiders (1989) as Cyanne
- Fine Gold (1989) as Stella
- Enemy (1990) as Mai Chang
- Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) as Minako Okeya
- Intimate Stranger (1991) as Mina
- Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) as Kimiko
- Wayne's World (1992) as Cassandra Wong
- Little Sister (1992) as Adrienne
- Rising Sun (1993) as Jingo Asakuma
- Quick (1993) as Janet Sakamoto
- Treacherous (1993) as Jessica Jamison
- Wayne's World 2 (1993) as Cassandra Wong
- True Lies (1994) as Juno Skinner
- Jury Duty (1995) as Monica
- The Immortals (1995) as Gina Walker
- Hostile Intentions (1995) as Nora
- Nothing But The Truth (1995) as Simone Gideon
- Hollow Point (1996) as Diane Norwood
- High School High (1996) as Victoria Chapell
- Natural Enemy (1996) as Christina
- Kull the Conqueror (1997) as Akivasha
- Top Of The World (1997) as Rebecca Mercer
- Scar City (1998) as Candy
- Dogboys (1998) as Jennifer Dern
- My Teachers Wife (1999) as Vicky Mueller
- Five Aces (1999) as Karen Haggerty
- Merlin The Return (2000) as Joan Maxwell
- Meet Prince Charming (2002) as Samantha Feld
- Torn Apart (2004) as Vicki Westin
- Back In The Day (2005) as Loot
- Supernova (2005) as Lisa Delgado
- Dark Honeymoon (2008) as Miranda
- Wild Cherry (2009) as Ms. Haumea
- Hard Breakers (2010) as Jodie
- You May Not Kiss The Bride (2011) as Lani
- Collision Course (2012) as Kate Parks
- Final Recourse (2013) as Michelle Gaines
- Gunshot Straight (2014) as Leanne
- Asteroid Vs Earth (2014) as Marissa Knox
- Pirates Code The Adventures Of Mickey Matson (2015) as Kelly
- Behind Palm Swings (2015) as Cherry Bomb
- Business Unusual (2016) as Ella
- Showdown In Manila (2016) as Mrs. Wells
- The Girl (2016) as Mother
- Palm Swings (2017) as Ms. Cherry Bomb
- Felo De Se (TBA) as Kirsty
- Lilo & Stitch live-action remake (TBA) as Mrs. Kekoa (also a Remake Cameo)
Live-Action Series
- Airwolf (1985) as Kiki Tinabi
- General Hospital (1985 — 1986 ) as Jade Soong
- The A-Team (1986) as Tia
- MacGyver (1986 — 1988) as Lisa Chan / Tiu
- The New Hollywood Squares (1987 — 1988 ) (2000 — 2001) as Herself
- Tour of Duty (1987) as Lang
- Noble House (1988) as Venus Poon
- Anything But Love (1989) as Cey
- Friday the 13th: The Series (1990) as Michiko Tanaka
- Quantum Leap (1990) as Chu-Hoi
- Married... with Children (1990) as Piper Bauman
- Tales from the Crypt (1992) as Scarlett
- Murder One (1995 — 1996 ) as Beverly Nichols
- Veronica's Closet (1998) as Kim
- Relic Hunter (1999 — 2002 ) as Sydney Fox
- The Test (2001) as Herself
- The O.C. (2006) as Dean Torres
- Dancing with the Stars (2006) as Herself
- Back To You (2007) as Maggie
- Nip/Tuck (2007) as Mistress Dark Pain
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007) as Cha Cha
- CSI: Miami (2009) as Jacqueline Parsons
- Warehouse 13 (2010) as Agent Katie Logan
- Iron Chef America (2010) as Herself
- True Justice (2011) as Lisa Clayton
- Combat Hospital (2011) as Jessica Draycott
- In Plain Sight (2012) as Lia Hernandez
- The Apprentice (2012) as Herself
- Hawaii Five-0 (2015 ) as Makana Kalakauna
- Blue Bloods (2017) as Chow Lin
Voice Acting
- Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1997) as Mija
- Hercules: The Animated Series (1998) as Marigold
- The Night of the Headless Horseman (1999) as Katrina Van Tassel
- Lilo & Stitch franchise (2002 — 2006) as Nani Pelekai
- Lilo & Stitch (2002)
- Stitch! The Movie (2003)
- Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003 — 2006)
- Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005)
- Leroy & Stitch (2006)
- Duck Dodgers (2003 — 2005) as Martian Queen Tyr'ahnee / Lieutenant O'Hara / Additional Voices
- Johnny Bravo (2004) as Herself / Little Jerry / Additional Voices
- Megas XLR (2004) as Darklos
- American Dragon: Jake Long (2005) as Yan Yan
- Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (2005) as Snookie
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2011 — 2013) as Judy Reeves / Additional Voices
- Uncle Grandpa (2014) as Island Girl
- Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest (2015) as Jezebel Jade
- Family Guy (2016) as Hawaiian Woman
- Mickey and the Roadster Racers (2017) as Auntie Olina
- Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters (2017) as Officer Santos/Mechanica
- The Legend Of Hallowaiian (2018) as Nana
Video Games
- The Daedalus Encounter (1995) as Ari Matheson (voice role)
- Saints Row (2006) as Lin (voice role)
- Saints Row IV (2013) as Lin (voice role)
This actress provides examples of:
- Actor-Shared Background: A lot of her characters tend to be Hawaiian like her. Notably Sydney Fox and Nani.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: One of her most famous roles was Sydney Fox in Relic Hunter.
- As Herself: She voices herself in one episode of Johnny Bravo.
- Award-Bait Song: Sings one in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm "I Never Even Told You"
- The Cast Showoff: She's a singer and tends to perform the songs herself whenever her characters sing.
- Cast the Expert: Disney cast her as Nani due to being raised in Hawaii, and she was often approached for advice on how to make their dialogue sound more authentically Hawaiian.
- Creator's Favorite: She named True Lies as her favorite role of all time "because I got to be a villain."
- The Danza: She played a character named Tia in the season 4 finale of the The A-Team, and was set up to become a member of the team, but that ended up never happening as Carrere dropped out due to her contractual obligations to General Hospital
- Dyeing for Your Art: Dyed her hair red to play Evil Redhead sorceress Akivasha in Kull the Conqueror.
- Fake Nationality: A lot of her characters, due to her mixed ancestry (Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish) giving her exotic looks. She often plays Asian characters, like Cassandra Wong in Wayne's World and Jingo Asakuma in Rising Sun. She's also played Hawaiian characters like Nani Pelekai, despite not being of native Hawaiian descent.
- Femme Fatale: Has played a few of these, and considers them to be her favorite roles. She even voices one in Duck Dodgers.
- Ms. Fanservice: She was known for her sex appeal and exotic looks in the 1980s and '90s.
- Star-Making Role: She emerged into the public spotlight as Cassandra Wong in Wayne's World. Her role in Lilo & Stitch was this for her voice acting career.
- What Could Have Been:
- She was supposed to have been a recurring character in The A-Team but couldn't because due to her contractual obligations to General Hospital. She even had a court case over it, but ended up losing.
- Carrere screen-tested for the role of Jean-Claude Van Damme's love interest in Double Impact, until Van Damme decided to cast a blonde actress instead.
- Carrere was cast in 1997 to be part of a Shi movie as Ana Ishikawa/Shi with William Tucci (Shi's creator) in script, but in the end all went into Development Hell. The only records of Carrere as Shi are this theatrical poster◊ and this live-action cover◊ for Shi: The Series preview.
