Biography

Early life

Mowry was born in Gelnhausen, West Germany to Darlene Flowers,[1] who managed her children's careers and also worked as a security guard, and Timothy Mowry, who was in the armed services and later became a police officer in California.[2] Her mother is African American and her father is Italian American; the two met in high school in Miami, Florida, and both joined the U.S. military.[1][2][3] She is the older sister of Tavior and Tahj Mowry. She is younger than her twin sister, Tamera, by two minutes. Her family is "close-knit" and "deeply religious",[2] as the sisters became born again Christians when they were eight.[4].

Career

Mowry and her sister began entering pageants and talent shows while their family was stationed in Texas. At age 12, they convinced their mother to move to California with them so they could pursue an acting career. She agreed, on the condition that they land an acting job the first month. In 1990, their family moved to California permanently and she and her sister began appearing in commercials and other small roles.

She is best known for playing Tia Landry, a twin separated at birth and reunited with her sister as a teenager in the show Sister, Sister. The series was developed for them after a producer spotted them on the set of Full House, a show on which their brother made regular appearances. Sister, Sister was initially on ABC but was cancelled by the network after two years and picked up by The WB, where it ran for another four years. During its run, they appeared on an episode of their brother Tahj Mowry's show Smart Guy. They also did voiceover work for the Kids' WB cartoon series Detention.

After the show ended, both Mowry and her sister studied psychology at Pepperdine University. She also went to Europe to study humanities and Italian for a period.[5] Both she and her sister appeared in the movie The Hot Chick playing cheerleaders. Mowry did voiceovers for the Bratz cartoon series as the voice of Sasha. In 2005, Mowry and her sister both starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Twitches and reprised their roles in its sequel, Twitches Too. Mowry appeared on an episode of her sister's television show, Strong Medicine, in January 2006, playing the role of Keisha, the twin sister of Tamera Mowry's character, Dr. Kayla Thornton. While Tia has a few movie projects planned in the works, She has a starring role in the CW hit television series The Game. Tia has been nominated for a Teen Choice Award and a NAACP Image Awards for best actress in a comedy.

In 2007, she appeared in one episode of America's Next Top Model.

Personal life

Mowry resides in Los Angeles with her "teacup" Chihuahua, whom she named Chico. On Christmas morning 2006, Tia became engaged to actor Cory Hardrict.[6]