Who is Wendy Calio?

Wendy Calio

Wendy Calio is an American actress, singer, dancer and choreographer who is best known for her portrayal of Nina, the spirited ever-smiling neighbor on Playhouse Disney children's series, Imagination Movers. Nina almost always wears red and pink outfits and is often instrumental in helping the imagination movers in their efforts to resolve their clientele’s problems. In the first season Nina worked next door to the Idea Warehouse in her Uncle Knit Knots office. Knit Knots, however, did not continue into the second season. Nina now works as a photographer and often visits the movers to take pictures for the newspaper. She started off as a small character in the show but now, in the second season, is a main character in the show. She has quickly become just as popular as the movers.

Calio was born and raised in Oahu, Hawaii[2] and graduated from Mililani High School[3] in Mililani, Hawaii. She is 5'3", 115 pounds, has black hair with black eyes and is of filipino and caucasian ancestry.[4] Her mother, Theresa Osthoff-Cambonga, currently a business partner in her ventures. Calio started dance training at the age of 4 by taking ballet at The Ballet School in Walnut Creek, California under the direction of Lareen Fender and continued under the direction of John Landowski at Hawaii State Ballet. A few years later she added to her repertoire by studying Contemporary Jazz under Pam Sandridge at Big City Productions. Calio began acting at age 12 when she was cast as the host of "Saturday AM" on Hawaii Public Television.[5] She spent two summers in a studio with 14 other kids filming a local version of "The Mickey Mouse Club". At age 14, Calio was crowned Miss Teen Hawaii Filipina. At 16, she recorded her first song, "I’m Coming Home For Christmas" under the alias of Sabrina Starr.[6]

By the age of 16, Calio was an accomplished actress, vocalist and dance performer. After the release of her first song, Calio started teaching dance at a local community center in Mililani, HI and made headlines for leading over 150 dancers in annual productions at local theatre venues such as Leeward Community College Theatre and Mamiya Theatre. Using the name under which she released her single, she opened her own business, Sabrina Starr Studios, and within a short amount of time made a name for herself as one of Hawaii’s Premiere dance instructors.

Sometime in 2007, Calio began her relationship with Disney as a performer and assistant choreographer in the national tour of Disney’s High School Musical and also appeared in Aladdin’s Musical Spectacular at Disney’s Hyperion Theater. To get the role of Nina on the Imagination Movers, Calio reportedly beat out over 800 hopefuls auditioning for the role in New York, Florida and Los Angeles.[5] In October 2008, Calio married [7] Jeremy Gilbert in a ceremony that took place at the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute in Kapolei, HI.[8] After finishing work on the second season of Imagination Movers in Louisiana, Calio moved back to Los Angeles. Calio is in process of opening a dance studio in Hawaii, called Pas De Deux Performing Arts School and Pas De Deux Dance Company.[6] The new studio is scheduled to open May 1st of 2010 and is located in Waipahu, HI[9]. Calio is also in the process of creating a children's book.