According to her biography on the IMDB website, she was born in Honolulu of Chinese, Hawaiian and English ancestry. Before she began her career as an actress, she was 1985 Miss Teen USA and later represented her native state of Hawaii in the Miss USA Pageant. Her first acting role was in the television series Growing Pains . Her television credits include Nash Bridges and Martial Law , guest-starring roles in Tour of Duty, Melrose Place, Murder One , and nearly 20 other series. lorenjavier