Putting out call for heart help
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
So what's up with Tia Carrere, a Hawai'i native, who's starred in films and TV shows and recorded an album or two?
She's been doing humanitarian work, for one, and earning recognition for some of her efforts.
This week, her efforts embrace her high school.
And she's continuing to provide a familiar voice in a popular animated series which will again be a feature film with a Hawai'i presence.
We caught up with her and asked Five Questions:
Q: You've done a public service announcement for a Sacred Hearts Academy classmate. What's at stake?
A: "This Sunday, there's a bake sale (from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sacred Hearts Academy) to help Penny Felimer Kalani, 38, raise funds to combat a ravaged heart. She needs a heart transplant and she needs help. She was our class president, class of 1984. The fund-raiser, a grassroots thing, is called Pennies for a Heart. Since I can't be home, I did a few television PSAs."
Q: You've been collecting awards lately. Explain?
A: "I was honored in the Philippines for work done in the past — fund-raisers, lobbying in congress, PSA — to help get medical benefits for Filipino veterans of World War II. Together with Dean Devlin (a writer-director), Rob Schneider (the actor), Lou Diamond Phillips (the actor) and Fritz Friedman (a publicist at Columbia/Tri-Star), we got a commendation from the president of the Philippines for our work. I also got a Cinema Manila Lifetime Achievement Award, but I felt, wow, I'm too young for that. Don't you have to be old? And on April 26, I get the Visionary Award from the East-West Players, for my work in Asian-Pacific affairs."
Q: Are you still voicing Nani on "Lilo & Stitch: The Series"?
A: "Yes, and we got picked up for another two years."
Q: What about the movie sequel?
A: "I've been doing that for a good year now, and I think it's supposed to come out in spring 2005. When I got involved in the first one, no one expected it to be such a hit. They were looking for Nani, a local Hawaiian girl, who can speak pidgin, to make it real. Which is cool. I think it paid off."
Q: Have you been able to coax Jason Scott Lee to do the second movie? He's not voicing David on the TV series.
A: "He didn't have time for the TV thing, but he's in the new movie, which is great. He lives on the Big Island, so it's harder for him to do the voice thing; I live in Hollywood and I can drive to the studio."
Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.
