Tia Carrere (born Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo on January 2, 1967) is a Hawaiian actress, model, and singer, most widely known for her role as Cassandra in the feature film Wayne's World and in the TV series Relic Hunter. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii of Filipino heritage, Carrere 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.Carrere divorced her husband Elie Samaha in February of 2000; she married again, this time to photojournalist Simon Wakelin on December 31, 2002. They have a daughter, Bianca, born September 25, 2005. Presently, she lives in Toronto, Canada.
Carrere has continued to nurture her singing career. In 1993, her first solo album, Dream, 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". In August of 2003, Carrere was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Her second album, Hawaiiana, was released in June 2007 and takes Carrere back to her Hawaiian roots with two-time Grammy Award winner Daniel Ho accompanying her on classic solo slack-key guitar and ukulele.
