Actress Tia Carrere was born January 2nd, 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her birth name is Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo and she is a mix of Chinese, Spanish and Filipino ethnicities.

As a child, she dreamed of being a singer. She was discovered in a grocery store while 17 years old and got a role in the movie "Aloha Summer". After this, Carrere went to Los Angeles and worked modeling jobs. She got a role in "Airwolf", a TV series, in 1985 though it was her role on "General Hospital" the same year which gained her notoriety. She appeared on the show until 1987. She had several small parts in TV shows like "Married:with Children" and "MacGyver" along with several films. When she got the role of Cassandra in the 1992 film "Wayne's World", Carrere was brought to the public's attention as an exotic beauty with acting and singing talent.

In November of 1992, Tia Carrere got married to Elie Samaha, a producer, and she later had roles in his films. Through the rest of the 1990s, Carrere was in films like "True Lies", "Rising Sun", "High School High" and "Kull the Conqueror". In 1999, she was cast in the lead role on the show "Relic Hunter" and stayed with the show until 2002. By this time, Tia Carrere was appearing on the covers of men's magazines like Maxim. In 2003, Carrere posed naked for Playboy magazine.

In addition to acting, Carrere pursued her singing and released a solo album in 2003. Her second album, which was released in 2007, was nominated for a Grammy. She didn't win for that album but Carrere's third album did win in 2010. In 2000, Carrere divorced Samaha and remarried Simon Wakelin in 2002. Their daughter was born in 2005.