Tia Carrere Undressed
Tia Carrere (born January 2, 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American actress, model, and singer, most widely known for her role as Cassandra in the feature film ''Wayne's World (film)|Wayne's World''.
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Born Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo, Carrere, of Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish heritage, longed to be a singer as a child. Although she was eliminated during the first round of her 1985 ''Star Search'' appearance at the age of 17, she was spotted by the parents of a local producer while shopping at a Waikiki grocery store and was cast in the b-movie ''Zombie Nightmare''.
Following this initial success, Carrere relocated to Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles and, after several months working as a model, landed a role in the daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'' from 1985 to 1987. During this time, she also had a guest appearance on ''The A-Team'', which was supposed to lead to her joining the cast. Unfortunately, her ''General Hospital'' obligations prevented her from joining the team. Her character was dropped after one episode, and was never mentioned again.
Carrere had a guest appearance on the show ''MacGyver'' (''The Wish Child'') as a sexy karate instructor.
Tia appeared in the 1991 action film ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man''.
She emerged into the public spotlight when cast as Cassandra, a rock singer and love interest of Mike Myers' character Wayne, in ''Wayne's World (film)|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 two films, and the ''Wayne's World'' soundtrack features her vocals. She also turned down a role in the series ''Baywatch'' to audition for ''Wayne's World''.
On November 22, 1992, Carrere married Italian/Lebanese producer Elie Samaha, and she has appeared in several of his films - none of which have achieved widespread success. Other roles in prominent films followed her role in ''Wayne's World'', however, including the part of villain Juno Skinner in ''True Lies'' (a 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger action film), robber Gina Walker in ''The Immortals'' (1995), and teacher Victoria Chapell in ''High School High'' (a 1996 parody).
From 1999 to 2002, Tia Carrere starred as archaeology professor Sydney Fox in ''Relic Hunter'', an action-adventure series reminiscent of the Indiana Jones films. The syndicated series lasted for a total of three television seasons before its cancellation. Most recently, Carrere provided the voice of Lilo's sister "Nani" in the animated film ''Lilo and Stitch''