Kiana Tom
| Kiana Tom | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 14, 1965 Maui, Hawaii, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Personal trainer, group fitness instructor, entrepreneur |
| Website | http://www.kiana.com/ |
Kiana Tom (born March 14, 1965) is an American television host, fitness expert, author, actress, and businesswoman. She is best known as the hostess and creator of Kiana's Flex Appeal on ESPN.
Television and film work
Tom was one of the cast members of the syndicated program BodyShaping, which began airing on ESPN in 1988.
In 1995, Tom created, hosted and co-produced her fitness series, Kiana's Flex Appeal,[1] a lifestyle, health and fitness program on ESPN. Tom wrote numerous exercise routines and created the segments: home gym, pro gym, target training, aqua flex training. The show ended in 2001.
Due to the program's initial high ratings, ESPN chose to develop other shows around Tom, including Kiana's Too Fit 2 Quit, Summer Sizzle with Kiana & Hot Summer Nights with Kiana. Tom has also hosted ABC Super Bowl Nightlife, and has many other television hosting credits.[2]
Kiana co-starred in her first movie, Universal Soldier: The Return with Jean-Claude Van Damme. According to the New York Times review of the film the presence of the fitness guru compounded the physicality of the film.[3]
Other work
Tom is the author of Kiana's Body Sculpting[4] and recipient of the United States Sports Academy Award. She was interviewed on behalf of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Emcee to the Governor's Ball at the inaugural X Games in Newport RI, Ms. Shape Magazine. She was also a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders.
She posed nude for May 2002 edition of Playboy magazine.[5] According to one interview, she was such a perfectionist that she had to wait until the right time in her career where she felt her body was in the best shape it had ever been.[6]
Personal life
Tom has been married since March 2002. Her husband is a fire department captain. She has two daughters. Her father, Layne Tom Jr., was an actor who played various children (including Charlie Chan Jr.) in Charlie Chan films and was the Asian Boy Ranger in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
She is part Hawaiian, Chinese and Irish. Her name is the Hawaiian form of Diana.
References
- ↑ http://www.salon.com/media/media960530.html Archived January 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866298/
- ↑ Van Gelder, Lawrence (21 August 1999). "FILM REVIEW; Soldiers Dying to Serve, And Die to Serve They Do". The New York Times.
- ↑ http://us.macmillan.com/kianasbodysculpting
- ↑ Harris, Elliot (March 26, 2002). "Exercising her job options". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
- ↑ http://telepixtvcgi.warnerbros.com/dailynews/extra/04_02/04_05b.html