Tia Dashon Mowry was born on July 6, 1978 in Gelhausen, West Germany, two minutes after Tamera. Her father Tim was a retired army sergeant. Her mother Darlene also worked for the military but went on to manage the twins’ careers. Other siblings included two brothers, Tahj and Tavior. The family moved around constantly, settling in Fort Hood, TX when Mowry was two years old, then Honolulu, HA, and then back to Texas, where the twins competed in pageants. The acting bug bit them shortly thereafter, and the twins begged their parents to move to California.
When the family finally relocated to the Golden State, it was brother Tahj who got a recurring role in the hit comedy series “Full House” (ABC, 1987-1995). Mowry appeared on the show in 1992 for an episode titled “The Devil Made Me Do It,” playing the same character as her sister.
In 1994, producer Irene Dreayer came up with a new show about twin sisters who got separated at birth and reunited as teens. Dreayer discovered the Mowry twins and cast them in the starring roles for “Sister, Sister.” Jackee Harry and Tim Reid played the twins’ parents. The show aired for six seasons and enjoyed a longtime syndication run. Mowry enjoyed working with her twin and their comedic chemistry was evident on screen.
While filming “Sister, Sister,” the Mowry twins starred alongside brother Tahj in the movie “Seventeen Again” (2000). The story of a grandmother who drank a special formula that turned her 17 again, resulted in lots of laughs for both the audience and the cast. It was a delight to watch the three Mowry siblings showcase their acting talents.
Education was always a big part of Mowry’s life. She attended Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, CA. In 2001, Mowry graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California with a degree in Psychology, along with her sister. They spent the summer of 2001 at the university’s campus in Florence, Italy.
Mowry and her sister hit the big time in 2002 by joining the cast of “The Hot Chick.” The comedy starred “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 1975- ) alum Rob Schneider and Rachel McAdams, but it was the twins who lit up the screen every time they appeared. The next year, Mowry got a voice role for “Bratz Rock Angels” (2005), a straight-to-DVD release marketed towards adolescent girls. Mowry provided the voice of the character of Sasha. She went on to do more movies for the franchise, including “Bratz: Forever Diamondz” (2006) and “Bratz: Babyz” (2006).
In 2005, Mowry and her sister filmed the movie “Twitches” (Disney Channel). The plot was very similar to “Sister, Sister,” with a magical twist. They were twin witches who got separated at birth. Mowry played Camryn Barnes/Apolla. Kristen Wilson played the girls’ mother, even though in reality, she was only nine years older than them.
Love was in full bloom for Mowry in 2006, when her boyfriend of six years, actor Corey Hartwyck of “The 70’s House” fame (MTV, 2005) proposed to her. Another highlight of her year was when she got cast in “The Game,” a spin-off of the series “Girlfriends” (CW, 2000- ). Playing a football player’s wife, Mowry found a more mature role, but remained in comedy. Her sister, on the other hand, went a different route. Tamera got a recurring role in the Lifetime drama series “Strong Medicine” (2000 – ), where Mowry made a guest appearance in the 2006 episode titled “My Sister, My Doctor, Myself.”
Mowry would next appear in “The American Standards,” a family drama about Alzheimer’s disease, starring James Brolin. She worked with her sister, once again, in a movie titled “Hollywood Horror.” Critics and fans agreed – whether separate or together – watching Mowry and her sister work together would always be a double treat.