Tia Carrere is suiting up to play her hometown idol.
The actress will star in and produce “Wave Dancer,” a biopic to be directed by Martha Coolidge about Hawaiian surfing legend Rell Sunn, known as “Queen of Makaha.”
A native of Oahu, Sunn was a pioneer in the big-wave world of the late 1960s as well as an expert diver, a black belt in karate and a hula dancer. She founded a surf contest for children to combat juvenile delinquency and fought breast cancer for 15 years. She died in 1998.
Carrere and Simon Wakelin wrote the screenplay. Carrere, Wakelin and J. Todd Harris will produce. Marc Marcum is an executive producer, and Michael Levine is a co-producer.
The filmmakers plan to shoot on location early next year.
Carrere, repped by Innovative Artists and manager Gordon Gilbertson, has starred in the “Wayne’s World” films, “Rising Sun” and did voice work for “Lilo & Stitch.”
The APA-repped Coolidge has helmed “Valley Girl,” “Real Genius” and “Rambling Rose.”
