Kija Manhare
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Kija began studying acting at the age of three with renowned radio and television character actress Lurene Tuttle who helped her hone her voice and acting skills. Lurene was amazing at working with children even at that young age. She would let her students go with their creative imaginations making up voices and accents. Since there is no fear at that age it was possible to come up with lots of fun characters.
Though there wasn't much work for Asian child actors at this time, Kija managed to land roles in commercials and even earned the leading role in the pilot for the sitcom Mabuhay. It was her hula hooping skills that landed her a role in Coca Cola's vintage classic campaign "Coca Cola Classic, Red White and You." And it was her martial arts skills that earned her the role of Janet Duarte in the little known film Skirmish with martial arts expert Dan Inosanto.
Kija began college as a theater major but eventually earned her BA in Film and Television production at Columbia College, Hollywood in 2007. After working as a camera assistant on small independent productions, Kija was hired in her senior year at a local television station in Southern California where she worked as a station crew member for two and half years. When the station closed down due to lack of funding, one of her crew mates suggested they all go down to Central Casting to get hired doing background work. Figuring nothing would come of it Kija went down to Central Casting with her crew mates and signed up. But once she was called to work her first job on Heroes, Kija was hooked and decided to return to acting.
Once an obstacle to her landing acting jobs, Kija's unique blend of Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian and Caucasian heritage, is what now earns her work in the industry. She has learn to make her look work for her playing everything from a Japanese internment camp internee to a Native American casino dealer. When the Funny or Die producers hired Kija to play an Eskimo in the viral video series Captain Planet, they were so pleased with her work that they hired her back to play in the final installment as one of featured office workers.
Though there wasn't much work for Asian child actors at this time, Kija managed to land roles in commercials and even earned the leading role in the pilot for the sitcom Mabuhay. It was her hula hooping skills that landed her a role in Coca Cola's vintage classic campaign "Coca Cola Classic, Red White and You." And it was her martial arts skills that earned her the role of Janet Duarte in the little known film Skirmish with martial arts expert Dan Inosanto.
Kija began college as a theater major but eventually earned her BA in Film and Television production at Columbia College, Hollywood in 2007. After working as a camera assistant on small independent productions, Kija was hired in her senior year at a local television station in Southern California where she worked as a station crew member for two and half years. When the station closed down due to lack of funding, one of her crew mates suggested they all go down to Central Casting to get hired doing background work. Figuring nothing would come of it Kija went down to Central Casting with her crew mates and signed up. But once she was called to work her first job on Heroes, Kija was hooked and decided to return to acting.
Once an obstacle to her landing acting jobs, Kija's unique blend of Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian and Caucasian heritage, is what now earns her work in the industry. She has learn to make her look work for her playing everything from a Japanese internment camp internee to a Native American casino dealer. When the Funny or Die producers hired Kija to play an Eskimo in the viral video series Captain Planet, they were so pleased with her work that they hired her back to play in the final installment as one of featured office workers.
