Background and career
Tia Dashon Mowry (; July 6, 1978) is an American actress. She first gained recognition for her starring role as Tia Landry in the sitcom Sister, Sister (1994–1999), opposite her twin sister Tamera Mowry. The sisters then starred together in the fantasy comedy film Seventeen Again (2000) and voiced the LaBelle sisters in the animated series Detention (1999–2000). The two also starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Twitches (2005) and its sequel, Twitches Too (2007). They were featured in the reality series Tia & Tamera from 2011 to 2013. Mowry voiced Sasha in the animated series Bratz (2005–2006). She starred as Melanie Barnett in the comedy-drama series The Game (2006–2012, 2015), Stephanie Phillips in the sitcom Instant Mom (2013–2015) and Cocoa McKellan in the sitcom Family Reunion (2019–2022). Mowry had starring roles in the teen comedy film The Hot Chick (2002), the musical comedy film The Mistle-Tones (2012), the romantic comedy film Baggage Claim (2013) and the drama film Indivisible (2018). Mowry and her sister, Tamera, formed a singing group in the early 1990s called Voices. The group debuted their first single, "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!", in 1992 and it charted at No. 72 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Tia Dashon Mowry was born in Gelnhausen, West Germany, on July 6, 1978. Her mother, Darlene Renée Mowry (née Flowers), managed her children's careers when they were in the group Voices and also worked as a security guard. Her father, Timothy John Mowry, was in the U.S. Army at the time of her birth and later became a correctional officer with the City of Glendale Police Department, when the family moved to California. Her father is of British and Irish ancestry and her mother is of Afro-Bahamian descent. Her parents met in high school, in Miami, Florida. Both joined the U.S. Army and eventually reached the rank of Sergeant. Her family is "close-knit" and "very spiritual," as the sisters became born-again Christians when they were eight. Tia is two minutes younger than her twin sister, Tamera. Tamera was born first, at 4:30pm, followed by Tia at 4:32pm. She also has two younger brothers, actor Tahj Mowry and musician Tavior Mowry, who played college football for University of California, Davis.
Mowry and her sister began entering pageants and talent shows while their family was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. Mowry's mom Darlene removed the twins from the early 90s R&B girl group Voices after a disagreement with management prior to the release of their debut album. 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 Mowry and her sister began appearing in commercials and small roles. Mowry 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 Mowry and her real life twin sister, Tamera, after a producer spotted them on the set of Full House, a show on which their brother Tahj made regular appearances. Mowry and her sister are both singers and showcased their vocal abilities on episodes of Sister Sister, singing covers of "You Can't Hurry Love" and "Amazing Grace", as well as "I'm Going Down", which Tamera performed solo. They also sang the show's theme song during season five and six. 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 guest-starred on the Sister, Sister crossover episode of The Jamie Foxx Show, appeared on an episode of their brother Tahj's sitcom Smart Guy, and did voice-over work for the Kids' WB series Detention. On the Blue's Clues episode titled "Blue's Birthday", which aired in 1998, Mowry and her sister make a cameo appearance as two of the celebrities wishing Blue a happy birthday. Their only line is said in unison: "Happy Birthday, Blue!" After Sister, Sister ended, both Mowry and her sister studied psychology at Pepperdine University. She also went to Europe to study humanities and Italian for a period. Mowry later co-starred in the 2000 movie Seventeen Again with her siblings Tamera and Tahj. She also did voice-overs for the 4KidsTV cartoon Bratz as the voice of Sasha. In 2002, she and Tamera appeared in the Rob Schneider comedy film The Hot Chick, playing cheerleaders. In 2005, the twins co-starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Twitches and reprised their roles in its sequel, Twitches Too. Mowry 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's character, Dr. Kayla Thornton. For five seasons, beginning in late 2006, Mowry had a starring role in the BET television series The Game as Melanie Barnett. For her work in television, Mowry has been nominated for a Teen Choice Award and an NAACP Image Award for best actress in a comedy. Beginning in July 2011, the Style Network began airing Tia & Tamera, a reality show which followed the day-to-day lives of the twins and showcased Tia being pregnant with her first child and Tamera planning her wedding. In May 2012, Mowry published her first book, Oh, Baby: Pregnancy Tales and Advice from One Hot Mama to Another, about her pregnancy and being a working mother. That same month, Mowry revealed on Twitter that she would not be returning to The Game, for a sixth season. From 2013 to 2015, she starred in the NickMom/Nick at Nite series Instant Mom. From 2015 to 2017, Mowry starred in her Cooking Channel series Tia Mowry at Home, where she made everything from macaroni and cheese, cake, pie, curry chicken, collard greens, shakshuka, potato, galette and various types of cocktails. Some of her guest stars included her The Game co-stars Hosea Chanchez, Wendy Raquel Robinson, and Brittany Daniel, as well as Lilly Singh from YouTube and singer Kelly Rowland. In 2016, Mowry started a podcast on PodcastOne called Mostly Mom with Tia Mowry. On April 29, 2016, she appeared with her twin sister on the daytime talk show The Real, where she promoted her new book Twintution. From 2019 to 2022, Mowry starred on the Netflix comedy series, Family Reunion. The show was nominated for Outstanding Children's Program three years in a row at the NAACP Image Awards, winning in 2020 and 2021. In September 2021, Mowry released her second cookbook, The Quick Fix Kitchen, published by Rodale Books. The book includes mealtime hacks, tips to bring joy and balance to the kitchen and easy, delicious and healthy recipes the entire family will love. In 2021, Tia partnered with Gibson to release an extensive homeware collection, Spice! by Tia Mowry. In 2023, Mowry launched a haircare line named 4u by Tia.
On April 20, 2008, Mowry married actor Cory Hardrict, whom she met on the set of the film, Hollywood Horror. The pair separated in October 2022, due to irreconcilable differences, and finalized their divorce in April 2023. Together, they have two children, a son (born in 2011) and a daughter (born in 2018). According to the April 22, 2025, episode of Finding Your Roots, William Brewster, a passenger on the Mayflower who became the senior elder of the Plymouth Colony, is the 13th great-grandfather of Mowry.
1998: Inducted into the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Hall of Fame with her sister Tamera Mowry
