Tia Mowry

Tia Dashon Mowry Hardrict (born July 6, 1978) is an American actress. She first gained fame for her teen role as Tia Landry on the sitcom Sister, Sister, opposite her identical twin sister Tamera Mowry. Currently, she is portraying medical student Melanie Barnett on the BET comedy-drama series The Game.

Family and early life
Mowry was born in Gelnhausen, West Germany to Darlene Mowry (née Flowers), who managed her children's careers and also worked as a security guard, and Timothy Mowry, who was in the U.S. Army at the time of her birth and later became a custody officer/jailer with the City of Glendale Police Department when the family moved to California.

Darlene, who is Bahamian American, and Timothy, who is British-American, met in high school in Miami, Florida. Both joined the U.S. Army, and both would eventually reach the rank of Sergeant. During a live taping of The Wendy Williams Show in 2010, Mowry announced that for years, she and her twin sister believed they were of Italian descent on their father's side; however, after researching their family tree on Ancestry.com, they quickly discovered that he was instead of British descent. Her family is "close-knit" and "deeply religious",as the sisters became born again Christians when they were eight.

She also has two younger brothers, actor Tahj Mowry and Tavior Mowry, who is not an actor.

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

Tia and her sister Tamera are both singers; they were members of singing group The Voices in the early 1990s. They also appeared in Harlem World's music video "I Really Like It" featuring Mase.

She is well 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 voice-over 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. Both she and her sister appeared in the Rob Schneider comedy film The Hot Chick, playing cheerleaders. Mowry also 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 and before co-starred in the 2000 movie Seventeen Again. She also 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. Mowry has a starring role in the CW television series The Game as Melanie Barnett. Mowry has been nominated for a Teen Choice Award and a NAACP Image Awards for best actress in a comedy.

In the Blues Clues episode Blue's Birthday, Mowry and her sister make a cameo appearance as two of the celebrities wishing Blue a happy birthday in her birthday card. Their only line is said in unison: "Happy Birthday, Blue!"

Beginning July 2010, the Style Network began airing, Tia & Tamera Take 2, a reality show which follows the day to day lives of the married and single twins.

Personal life
Mowry married actor Cory Hardrit on April 20, 2008 at the Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore in Santa Barbara.

Mowry is the head coach of the Entertainment Basketball League celebrity team. She coaches the Atlanta team whose players include her husband, Cory Hardrict, and co-star, Pooch Hall. She recently coached at the battle of the sexes game in Chicago against the Sky of the WNBA.

Awards and nominations

 * Image Awards

Won
 * 1999 – Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series – Sister, Sister (shared with Tamera Mowry)
 * 2000 – Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series – Sister, Sister (shared with Tamera Mowry)

Nominated
 * 2008 – Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series – The Game


 * Teen Choice Awards

Nominated
 * 2007 – Choice TV Actress: Comedy – The Game