- 5/24/2025
Seasoned actress and Grammy Award-winning singer Tia Carrere burst onto the scene, captivating audiences as cool girl Cassandra Wong in the 1992 blockbuster Wayne's World . The Honolulu-born beauty hasn't stopped since starring in a slew of projects over the decades, from the Wayne's World sequel and James Cameron's True Lies alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis to TV shows such as Relic Hunter , Hawaii 5-0 , and Curb Your Enthusiasm . However, acting is far from her only forte. Her ethereal voice has scored her two Grammy Award wins and four nominations for Best Hawaiian Music Album. She has also paid homage to her Hawaiian roots, lending her vocal talents to the role of Nani Pelekai, Lilo's older sister, in the beloved 2002 animated film Lilo & Stitch , which takes place on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i. More than 20 years later, she returns to the Lilo & Stitch franchise in the highly anticipated live-action version of the Disney fan favorite, this time playing social worker Mrs. Kekoa. We heard all about the upcoming film and more when we caught up with Carrere, fresh from the Philippines, where she is filming her latest movie, the rom-com The Last Resort . This is a LifeMinute with Tia Carrere.
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00:00Aloha, it's Tia Carrere, and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:04Actress and Grammy-winning singer Tia Carrere burst onto the scene,
00:08captivating audiences as cool girl Cassandra Wong in the 90s Wayne's World.
00:13The Honolulu-born beauty has since starred in a slew of projects.
00:17However, acting is far from her only forte.
00:21Her ethereal voice has scored her two Grammy Award wins
00:24and four nominations for Best Hawaiian Music Album.
00:27She's also paid homage to her Hawaiian roots,
00:30lending her vocal talents to beloved animated movie Lilo and Stitch.
00:35Yes, I'm Nani.
00:37More than 20 years later, she's returned to the franchise
00:40in the highly anticipated live-action version of the Disney fan favorite.
00:45We heard all about it and more when she stopped by the Life Minute studios earlier this week.
00:50This is a Life Minute with Tia Carrere.
00:52I can't believe that it's been 22 years since I did the first one.
00:58I mean, getting to do the animated feature and playing the older sister Nani
01:02and, you know, imparting all of my Hawaiian, you know, cultural references,
01:07like singing the song Aloha Oi to say goodbye to my sister.
01:13Aloha Oi.
01:15Talking with a pigeon accent, like local people talk in Hawaii.
01:19I mean, getting to introduce all that into a new character was amazing.
01:24And now, all this time later, being able to play the more mature mentor role to the teenage girl.
01:32So it's just, I feel like the cycles of life for a woman almost.
01:36That's sort of what it's dovetailed with for me, you know.
01:38When I did the cartoon, the animated feature, I was shooting a TV series.
01:43So I was traveling around the world.
01:45I was in Toronto, Spain, England, France.
01:48So I voiced that over the course of two years in Burbank, Toronto.
01:52So it was very disjointed.
01:54And I didn't even meet Lilo until the premiere.
01:56And now, with this one, getting to go back to Hawaii and spend time there
02:02and to be connected to the other actors in the piece, you know, it's more visceral.
02:08It's more, to have that energy between people on screen, it's a different thing altogether.
02:13So, what can I get you to drink?
02:16Do you have tea?
02:17I love getting to work with Sydney, who plays Nani, and Maya, who plays Lilo.
02:22So, amazing, amazing casting, wonderful girls, really good girls.
02:27And Courtney, Vance, and I are hilarious because we're kind of villainous
02:31because we're, you know, basically trying to take Lilo away from her sister.
02:35We're social services, after all.
02:37Getting to meet Zach Galifianakis in, you know, downtime and, you know, visit with him.
02:42I did his TV show, like a little snippet on his TV show, ages ago, I think in the 90s.
02:47Fila, Ferrari party.
02:48Are you that famous guy, Zach?
02:50Yeah.
02:51Wow.
02:51Hey.
02:52Come on.
02:53Getting to talk now and, you know, just hang out in my favorite place on earth, Hawaii.
02:59You know, it was pretty awesome.
03:00And Dean Fleischer-Camp, I loved.
03:03Marcel the Shell with shoes on made me cry.
03:06So, I got to tell him how much I loved that piece.
03:08And the producers, I worked with them on Easter Sunday, that movie I did with Joe Coy.
03:12So, it's really just a great group of people that I got to work with and hang out with in Hawaii.
03:17I think that fans are going to be amazed when they see the CGI that they do to bring Stitch to life.
03:30Because the cartoon, it's so beloved, it's so in our minds a certain way, that they really had to raise the bar to make it believable.
03:39And they went through, I think, many different iterations of the Stitch character to find that right balance between when he's menacing, he's terrifying.
03:47When he's a cute little blue guy that's got his big eyes and, you know, trains it at Lilo, that he's truly adorable and you're like, you just love him.
03:55But that was a delicate balance to match and I think they did a great job with it.
04:00I was just saying that I, like, flew in from Manila, was in L.A. for 24 hours, changed my luggage, came here to New York for two days, going back to L.A. to do the press junket for Lilo and Stitch for two days.
04:13And then I'm going back to Manila to work on this film called The Last Resort, directed by Don Petrie, who did Miss Congeniality, written by my girlfriend, Karen McCullough, who wrote House Bunny and Legally Blonde and so many other movies.
04:26Oh, and I get to work with my director of photography from True Lies.
04:29Russell Carpenter is working on it also.
04:32The star of it is Daisy Ridley, who was in the Star Wars movie, and Alden Aaron Rick, who was in, I think, Young Han Solo.
04:41He played Young Han Solo.
04:42So my dad's from the Philippines.
04:45So it's great to go there and have it as a cultural touchstone, you know.
04:49Ain't got no reason for reaction
04:54Well, I loved working on a soundtrack in Wayne's World because I'm a singer.
05:02I started out as a singer, and I love that you have all this music paraphernalia because, you know, I did start out singing, and I thought that was going to be my life's journey, was to be a singer, not an actress, until I was discovered in a grocery store.
05:15And that's how I got my first movie.
05:16But, you know, my grandma took me to my first singing lesson when I was 11.
05:19I performed at, like, talent shows and sang at the local shopping malls, and I sang everywhere.
05:25So that's always been my passion.
05:27It's been a great life.
05:29I think in Wayne's World, getting to work with Ted Templeman, who worked with Van Halen, the first concert I ever saw at the Forum.
05:38Unbelievable.
05:39Ted Templeman produced, you know, Van Halen and produced a soundtrack for Wayne's World.
05:43I'm like, holy cow, this is crazy that I get to be here and, you know, sing.
05:48I sang with a rock band in junior high, but I lost my voice to laryngitis, singing so hard.
05:55I mean, if you hear the voice of the guy that, I forget his name, lead singer of ACDC, his voice before he started singing that hard rock, and then his voice after, he completely destroyed his vocal cords.
06:06It's very painful, and I feel like I'm doing damage to my vocal cords singing like that.
06:10So my druthers are to sing more melodic and, like, my Hawaiian stuff that I won my two Grammys for.
06:17I like, you know, aloha oi, aloha oi.
06:24You know, the air and the breath and the softness and the flow of the melody.
06:29You know, the vibration just, it's just better for me.
06:33But it was fun singing, you know, rock in Wayne's World and in my youth.
06:40I drink lots of water, sleep, except when I'm doing press junkies.
06:48I don't like to talk that much because talking is harder on your vocal cords than singing.
06:52You don't want to dry yourself out.
06:53I mean, I just had coffee because I'm exhausted.
06:55But generally speaking, you know, not too much coffee, not too much alcohol, lots of sleep, lots of water.
07:01I carry this stuff called entertainers.
07:03I know, it's a spray, like a glycerin spray for your throat.
07:06Slippery elm lozenges to keep, you know, your throat moisturized.
07:16I love listening to other people's music.
07:19And I just discovered, like, not just discovered, but I saw her on SNL, Lola Young singing Messy.
07:26And hearing these young women come up with these daring lyrics, amazing lyrics, and singing, and they're fresh, and they're unlike anybody else.
07:34And I just love that maverick spirit.
07:36So I'm inspired by other female musicians, you know, or like back when, you know, Melissa Etheridge came out with her hard-hitting, kind of sort of country rock kind of song, anthemic.
07:48You know, Sarah McLachlan, the first time I heard Sarah McLachlan, it was like the voice of an angel.
07:52That inspires me, hearing other women making their most beautiful art in this art form that I love.
08:00I loved getting to co-host the Grammys.
08:04There's a pre-telecast where you give out, like, 100 Grammys.
08:07I think I gave Colby Calais her first Grammy.
08:10This is my first Grammy. I'm going to cry.
08:13I gave Jason Reitman his Grammy for, I think it was Juno or one of his movies, and getting to be part of that.
08:21And then I got to perform, to open the ceremony at the Grammys for, and dedicate it to my grandma, who was having her birthday on that date.
08:30And she was watching it in front of the computer.
08:32So, like, getting to dedicate my Grammys to my Grammy, who was watching it.
08:37I was on Star Search, but that was, like, in October of 84, when I moved to L.A. 41 years ago from Hawaii.
08:58It's crazy to even say it out loud.
09:01I've got to stop counting, because it's, like, a lot at this point.
09:03When I say I've been there for 50 years, that's when I have to go back to Hawaii and, like, retire with a tiki bar or something.
09:09I was on the acting category, which is weird.
09:14Like, how do you judge who's a better actor?
09:17Robert De Niro or Al Pacino?
09:18You know, Ed Norton or Willem Dafoe?
09:21It's impossible.
09:22Everybody's a different flavor.
09:23They've got, you know, whatever.
09:24So I went in, and it was the only category that was open.
09:29So I'm like, okay, I'll do this, even though I had only just started acting.
09:33I did well.
09:34I didn't win, but it got me used to performing in a scene on television, I guess.
09:39And it was a good learning experience that just because you don't win that particular little contest,
09:45it has no bearing on whether you're good or not, whether you have a career or not.
09:50Because, look, 41 years later, it just seemed like life unfolded in front of me, you know?
09:54Being discovered in a grocery store, getting a movie, getting the female lead in a movie,
09:58getting your Screen Actors Guild card, moving to Hollywood and starting to get work.
10:03It seemed like I just had to go with the flow.
10:05You know, sometimes when you just see a path open up in front of you, you just have to go with it.
10:10I didn't have enough money to go to college.
10:12I didn't have grades good enough to get me a scholarship.
10:15I mean, I was B-plus, A-minus.
10:17I didn't really apply myself, but I got good grades, but not to get a scholarship.
10:22So I'm glad that this job opportunity opened up and took me for the next four decades.
10:28I wish I had been more vocal and saying, no, that doesn't feel right for me.
10:37I really believe in my heart of hearts that this is a path I need to take.
10:41But when you're young, you're 17, 18, you know, you're kind of questioning yourself
10:45and people are able to talk you into things that, you know, maybe don't suit you
10:50and they're not looking out for your best interest.
10:51So that's what I tell anybody that's coming up and ask for advice, you know?
10:55Not that I'm like any sage, wise person, but I bumbled my way through and figured out
11:01that the most important thing is to be clear about what you want.
11:04Even if you're not clear about where you want to go, you know what suits you and what doesn't suit you
11:08and what feels wrong in your gut, because that's all you can follow.
11:11Nobody knows exactly, is this job going to be a huge hit?
11:16Is that going to be, you know?
11:18I'm glad the time that I really, really listened to myself was when I was going to get a job on Baywatch.
11:25I was going to be on there, but I read the script, Wayne's World, and I'm like, this is the movie.
11:30This is my job.
11:31I can act it.
11:32I can sing it.
11:33I can do the martial arts.
11:35That sureness within me, thankfully I listened to it that time because, you know, it didn't make any sense.
11:42Nobody else would know.
11:43Nobody knew what Wayne's World was.
11:45And here, here's Baywatch.
11:46It's a regular job on a series, you know?
11:47It's got money, regular money.
11:49But it didn't feel as exciting to me as this movie as soon as I read it.
11:55It was unlike anything I'd ever seen.
11:56I mean, when he's addressing the camera and talking to the camera and then going back into the scene or, you know, doing that product placement thing, he's going, here, you have a headache?
12:05Want one of these?
12:06Ah, new print.
12:07Little.
12:08Yellow.
12:08Different.
12:09You know, the product placement thing was before anybody had done product placement in film and television.
12:13So it was just so forward thinking and the husband and wife team, Bonnie and Terry Turner, were so wonderful, so kind and so smart and funny.
12:25And that Mike Myers was so in my corner.
12:27He said, you know, you're doing great.
12:29You're the one that I want.
12:30Keep doing what you're doing.
12:32And Penelope Spheres, one of the first major box office female directors.
12:38You know, it was an amazing little movie that nobody knew where it was going that just blew up all over the world.
12:47Penelope came to my house for my birthday recently in January, which was amazing.
12:51I hadn't seen her in years.
12:53And then Mark Ferrari, who plays my guitarist in the movie, was there.
12:58And, you know, the bassist was there.
13:01It just happened to be the way it happened in January.
13:04But I hadn't seen anybody in a long time.
13:06I thought I knew most of Khaled's friends, but I don't believe I've met you before.
13:11Fun working with Arnold.
13:12I mean, big movie star and he's really nice.
13:15I saw him recently to give him a birthday present for his big birthday.
13:19And gosh, John Lovitz.
13:21I've been friends with him for a long time.
13:23Still talk to him.
13:24Joe Coy, who I worked with on Easter Sunday.
13:27I've known him for decades also.
13:29My hair and makeup friend that's here with me, you know, Anya.
13:32And Cheryl McLean, who's over, you know, my publicist.
13:37I'm with people a long, long time in my career, you know, decades long.
13:43I love going stand-up paddleboarding.
13:45And we've been biking up the mountain, you know, up in the Hollywood Hills and swimming in the ocean.
13:51We just came back from like a 10-day boat trip and swimming and paddling and just enjoying being out in nature.
13:59I love being out in nature, basically.
14:01I think there's a very therapeutic aspect to being in nature.
14:05And my boyfriend and I got certified for scuba.
14:08And that has blown my mind in the past couple of years.
14:13We were in Hawaii doing Lilo and Stitch and got certified and went down swimming with sharks, going into wrecks.
14:21I just did a dive with whale sharks in the Philippines.
14:25It was magnificent.
14:27I highly, highly recommend becoming Patty certified as a diver.
14:30What are my favorite comfort food?
14:34It's so tough.
14:36I mean, I love so much.
14:37I love so much food.
14:39Brooklyn, who's a friend of mine, she was Miss Universe.
14:42And I just saw this old clip.
14:44The George Hamilton asked her, like, you know, if you had one day where you could do anything you want without any recriminations, any judgment, what would you do?
14:51She goes, I would eat everything I could.
14:54All my favorite foods, I would eat them twice.
14:57Because, you know, we're always watching our weight.
14:59We're always trying to be, like, camera ready.
15:02And, you know, there's a billion dollar business in Spanx and Skims and stuff because we all want to look a certain way.
15:08But ultimately, food's delicious and we love to, you know, eat it.
15:12Like, my childhood food is fried rice and Spam and all of that stuff.
15:18Macaroni salad with tons of mayonnaise, you know, In-N-Out burger and chocolate milkshakes and, you know, potato chips.
15:25I mean, you know, but I try to be healthy and now I'm trying to eat, like, more nutritious food than what I grew up with.
15:31So, you know, as soon as I saw the fruit platter in there, I was like, oh, I'm all about, you know, the antioxidants and vitamin C.
15:39I stay healthy by sleeping on a regular schedule.
15:43I love drinking water.
15:44I don't drink soda or anything like that.
15:46I don't, it's funny, I used to like it when I was younger, but I love water, you know, I just, the hydration.
15:52I'm glad that I'm not one of those people that doesn't like the flavor of water.
15:56So, I'm grateful that I enjoy it.
15:59So, I can just chug water.
16:01Sleep, water, exercise.
16:04I love physical activity.
16:06I make everything into a physical activity.
16:08You know, cleaning the house or, you know, I've been moving and moving boxes and doing squats and lunges as I'm walking across with stuff.
16:15I'll, like, carry something, but instead of just carrying it, I'll be like, I'm going to do squats.
16:19I'm going to do lunges.
16:21I'm going to lift the box like this so I can work on the back of my arms.
16:24It's funny.
16:25Beauty secrets.
16:26I like this new thing from Kiehl's.
16:28It's a serum.
16:30It's a sunscreen.
16:32It's a little moisturizing.
16:33I love that.
16:34And the Embryolisse, like, it's a primer and a moisturizer.
16:38I like multitasking, things like that.
16:40And I love those CC creams from that woman who invented that billion-dollar company from her garage.
16:45I'm like, why didn't I come up with that idea?
16:48That's It Cosmetics.
16:50And my new favorite thing.
16:51Oh, and then I love Anastasia's.
16:53You know, Anastasia, she did the eyebrows in Beverly Hills, but she has this amazing makeup line.
16:59And I just used her glitter lip gloss on this movie, and I love it.
17:03You have to check out the glitter lip gloss.
17:05It's the best.
17:06I'm almost done with this.
17:07I've got to go buy some more.
17:08I get so many gifts and gift bags, so I try different products, and that's where I know what I like.
17:14I like a certain product from this line, a certain product from that line.
17:17So I'm always cherry-picking things, and if somebody uses a product on me, I always take a picture of the label, and I go, oh, I have to get this for the, you know, skin care.
17:26I have to get this for the, you know, whatever, coverage.
17:30And I love putting on that, you know, that one-size spray, on till dawn.
17:35So, like, if you're working out and you're sweaty, you know what I mean, it keeps the makeup on, which sounds dumb, but, you know, sometimes you want to still look pretty, because you're, you know, bicycling up the mountain with your boyfriend.
17:45I think every woman feels a pressure, but particularly actresses, because you're sort of frozen in time.
17:53You're locked in amber.
17:55This is what you look like at the height of your powers when you were young and most beautiful.
17:59In the quest to always live up to that and look like that and feel less than if you're not that level, it's a mind trip.
18:07So you have to really check yourself and make sure you're just the happiest, healthiest version of you and not trying to be that version of you from 30 years ago, you know, 40 years ago.
18:20It's impossible, you know.
18:22Then you start looking crazy because you're like, I want to look like I'm 28 forever.
18:27No, I want to look like I'm 50 forever, you know, or as long as I can.
18:32Traveling hacks.
18:33I always carry my own personal shower cap because I have a lot of hair and sometimes if my hair is all done, it gets even bigger, you know, when it's teased up or curled.
18:43So I love, it's like a luxury thing.
18:45It's like, you know, the satin outside, the big bonnet.
18:48I love putting those on and I hate the dinky little tight plastic disposable ones.
18:55First of all, I hate single-use plastics.
18:57I also carry a black satin pillowcase for like if I take a nap in between and I just sleep like this.
19:05But if I lean over, I don't want to get my makeup all over the pillow or whatever.
19:08You know, a black makeup washcloth to wash is always good too.
19:12My favorite thing about Hawaii is the green, verdant mountains and trees and the smell of flowers and the feel of the ocean, the warmth of the breeze.
19:23It's like Hawaii is nature's, you know, love letter to the world.
19:29It's like it's paradise.
19:30People from all over the world think of Hawaii as this dream place to go.
19:36And it is, you know.
19:37I love wearing flower leis and having that smell on me all the time, that smell of the beauty of nature.
19:46And like one of my Hawaiian songs that I sing on the second record is called Heinani.
19:52It's about finding the beauty in the faces of the people you love, in the places that you hold in your heart.
20:05And that's what Hawaii is for me.
20:07It's like it's my heart.
20:08I am writing a movie that I'm looking forward to directing and starring in in Hawaii.
20:16I want to bring a movie back to Hawaii that tells an intrinsically Hawaii-based story.
20:23Because often Hawaii is the backdrop for other people's stories.
20:27You know, like even the descendants, I mean, it's like, okay, these are the ritzy people, rich mainland people coming to Hawaii and using it as a backdrop.
20:36But being a local person, it's a very hard struggle.
20:39It's one of the highest cost of living with one of the lowest household incomes.
20:43And a lot of people are one paycheck or away from homelessness or even they're working full-time jobs and can't afford to live in their childhood home.
20:52And with the devastation in Lahaina, we see how easy it is to fall off the bottom of society.
20:57So I want to do this movie to shine a light on that.
21:00Because like Iam Tongi, like my family, getting priced out of paradise is a real thing.
21:06And I wish there was a way we could get local Hawaii government to help keep people in their homes.
21:11I was just thinking about doing another record, just like the kind of music that I want to do.
21:23I put something out just, I guess, just after the pandemic on YouTube, on my channel at Tia Career Official.
21:30And it's kind of a country-ish anthem, but it's just a ballad called I'm Still Here.
21:38And it's fun doing songs and releasing them just because you love them and you want to hear them fully realized.
21:45And I shot the video in Hawaii at OK Farms on the big island of Hawaii in Hilo.
21:51And just as a creative exercise to not have to fulfill what a record label tells you to do.
21:58I think it's great that now we have the ability to create our own music, to create our own movies,
22:04because of the technological advances in digital cameras and digital recording you can do in your bedroom at home,
22:11as we saw from, you know, Billie Eilish.
22:14She and her brother did those records in their bedroom, and it sounds unbelievable.
22:18Daniel Ho and I do our records in the hallway at his house.
22:22It gives you more freedom.
22:25It democratizes this art form that was before out of reach for people.
22:32It was too expensive to rent, you know, Ocean's Way $10,000 a day recording studio,
22:38$1,500 a day for the cheap one, you know.
22:41We can make music because we want to and put it out because we want to,
22:44and it doesn't have to make sense to anybody but us.
22:52Gosh, well, life advice, I don't, you know, far be it from me,
22:55I'm still, you know, the crash test dummy of my own life, I like to say.
22:59But I love, I always quote Sean Connery on this one.
23:02He says, the late, great Sean Connery that I got to work with on Rising Sun,
23:06when you walk into a room with your shoulders thrown back and your head held high,
23:12you look like you belong.
23:14And it's about, you know, fake it till you make it.
23:17Walk into the room, you know, with daring and dignity and own your space, you know.
23:23Just makes me want to sit up straighter and taller just thinking about it, you know.
23:26We deserve the place at the table.
23:30I'm just happy to still be here along for the ride all these decades later.
23:36To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV on iTunes
23:41and all streaming podcast platforms.
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