Rocking Wayne’s World with her powerful vocals, Hawaiian-born Tia Carrere convincingly played an exotic woman with a thick Hong Kong accent, the love interest of Mike Myer’s character Wayne.
And though Carerre, of Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish descent, doesn’t have an accent, she embraced the role of a rock goddess in the film that had a significant impact on pop culture lexicon.
Reflecting on her career and challenges she faced, Carerre recently celebrated her 57th birthday–the actor-singer still looks stunning–and filled with gratitude she shares how more than 30 years later, adoring fans recognize her and shout, “We’re not worthy!”
Appearing as Cassandra Wong in the 1992 comedy film Wayne’s World, which stars Mike Myers as Wayne and Dana Carvey as Garth, Carrere powered up the set with her dynamic vocals as the lead vocalist and bassist of her character’s rock band.
Wayne’s World, originally a recurring sketch from Saturday Night Live, became a 1990’s cult classic with memorable catchphrases, repeatedly spoken by Wayne and Garth, like “We’re not worthy!” and “schwing!”
Starting her career as a model, Carrere, born Althea Rae Janairo, had her big break when she landed a recurring role as Jade Soong Chung on the award-winning soap opera, General Hospital. Through the 1980’s she appeared on many popular shows like Tour of Duty, The A-Team and MacGyver, and following a few small stints in action films, she reached a new level of popularity when she starred in Wayne’s World, a role she reprised the next year in Wayne’s Word 2.
Reflecting on her storied career, Carrere said, “I love working. It’s fun what we do, to bring joy to the screen and that music. I feel so privileged that I was able to get into this business because of a movie like Wayne’s World. I wouldn’t be where I am, you know, 30 years later. So every opportunity I take and I run with it, because I know it’s such a gift to be able to work in this magical industry.”
Named by People in 1992 as one of 50 most beautiful people, Carrere’s rise to stardom was just beginning.
She played a smuggler in the action-comedy film True Lies, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, a Japanese-African tech expert in The Rising Sun with the late Sean Connery, and starred in the 1995 action-packed Immortals, which was produced by Elie Samaha, whom she was married from 1990 to 2000.
In 2002, Carerre loaned her voice to play Nani, big sister to Lilo, in Disney’s animated film, Lilo and Stitch. The Oscar nominated movie, which is set in Hawaii, also features her breathy, sweet vocals in the song “Aloha ‘Oe,” in a tender moment where Nani comforts little Lilo.
In the same year Lilo and Stitch was released, she married photojournalist Sam Wakelin, whom she divorced in 2010, and she posed nude for a Playboy cover. “How’s that for a hat trick?” Carerre quipped, adding that Disney had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” philosophy, and that she voiced Nani for the TV series of Lilo and Stitch for the next three years.
She can also be seen in Dancing with the Stars (2006) and Celebrity Apprentice (2011), where she attempted to impress Donald Trump, the former host and the disgraced president of the United States.
Though it appears she left the stage, she returned to her roots and was focused on her music.
After playing Cassandra the Rockstar vocalist in Wayne’s World, Carerre said in an interview with VICE, “I know the smarter, easier thing would have been to go straight ahead with a rock album because that’s what people were expecting at the time. But it wasn’t the kind of music I liked.”
Circling back to her culture and the music she listened to growing up, she released her first solo album, “Dream” (1993), which went platinum in the Philipines. Her powerful vocals were recognized locally with the 2007 release of “Hawaiiana,” which earned her a Grammy nomination and in 2009, she won her first Grammy Award for Best Hawaiian Music Album, an award she won again in 2011.
In the past decade, she returned to acting with bigger roles in HBO’s Curb your Enthusiasm and in the leading role of the villain, Lady Danger, in Rupaul’s 2020 drama comedy, AJ and the Queen.
Reflecting on her 1982 move from Hawaii to start her career, she said some of the challenges she faced was that she was typecast for “being too ethnic.”
“I came here and people were like, ‘What are you? Chinese? Japanese?’ They didn’t even know Filipino. My hair was short, and I had to get a long-haired wig because I was only going to get these types of roles where I’d have to work on a Chinese accent,” Carerre said when speaking with Variety in 2022. “Even when I was on General Hospital, I never had an interracial relationship. I was in the Asian quarter with my Asian boyfriend, who’s also an Asian doctor. When we left the Asian quarter, it was to go to the old country to help our people.”
The mother of one said that at the time, “it was still very divided,” adding that now, things have changed. Carerre said, “You wouldn’t have that today. Now, it’s ‘submit all types,’ BIPOC or whatever. I remember seeing that for the first time on breakdown services [the description of the characters], and I thought, ‘Here we are, finally.’ So, may the best person win, whatever your ethnic background may be.”
Bu it seems like she prefers roles where she can be her authentic self. She recently starred in comedian Jo Koy’s film Easter Sunday, with an all-Filipino cast.
She said of the role, “It’s so special. I’ve been in this business for a long time. I’ve played Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, prostitutes, terrorists and working in a tea house. For the first time, I get to play Filipino. My father is from the Philippines and my mom is from Hawaii, and I get to celebrate all these idiosyncrasies.”
And soon, you can see her in the live-action Lilo and Stitch, as Nani’s social worker.
We love Tia Carerre and her voice. It’s amazing how her style of singing can vary from hard rock in Wayne’s World to sweet and soft, like she demonstrates in her Hawaiian music.
We’d love to hear your memories of this multi-talented entertainer!
