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 she and her sister began appearing in commercials and small roles. 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 guest-starred on the
Sister, Sister crossover episode of
The Jamie Foxx Show and appeared on an episode of their brother
Tahj Mowry's sitcom
Smart Guy and did voice-over work for the
Kids' WB 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 voice-overs for the
4KidsTV cartoon
Bratz 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. Tia 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
BET television series
The Game as
Melanie Barnett. Mowry has been nominated for a
Teen Choice Award and an
NAACP Image Award for best actress in a comedy. In the ''
Blue's Clues'' episode "Blue's Birthday", 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!" Beginning in July 2011, the
Style Network began airing
Tia & Tamera, a reality show which follows the day-to-day lives of the twins; Tia being pregnant and Tamera planning her wedding. Mowry and her sister are both singers. They have showcased their vocal abilities on episodes of
Sister Sister, including covers of "
You Can't Hurry Love", "
Amazing Grace" and "
I'm Going Down", which Tamera performed. They also sang the theme song during season five and six. 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. In May 2012, 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 Sanchez, 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, she 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. ==Personal life==