Wendy Calio-Gilbert is an American actress, singer, dancer and choreographer who is best known for her portrayal of Nina, the spirited ever-smiling neighbor on Disney Juniorchildren's series, Imagination Movers.
Life and career
Calio was born and raised in Oahu, Hawaii and graduated from Mililani High School in Mililani, Hawaii. She is of Filipino and European descent. She is currently represented by Ryan Brown and ADR Agency in Honolulu. 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. 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. 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 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, Miami and Los Angeles. In August 2008 Calio married Jeremy Gilbert in a ceremony that took place at the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute in Kapolei, HI. After finishing work on the second season of Imagination Movers, Calio opened up a performing arts/dance school called Pas De Deux, which opened May 1, 2010 in Waipahu, HI. In addition to ballet, Calio is also trained in hula, yoga, and Bollywood dancing, and is a pop rock and soprano singer. Her Hawaiian heritage and hula skills were incorporated into her character Nina in the Imagination Movers episode "Trouble in Paradise." She continued to star in Imagination Movers, and officially signed on as the choreographer of Season Three. Since starring on the show Imagination Movers, Calio has focused most of her time towards her business and performing arts school Pas De Deux Hawaii located in her home town of Central Oahu. She has two Rescue dogs named Buddy Pie and Sookie Lou. Calio has also appeared in the Hawaii 5-0 episode "I'ike Ke Ao" along with her husband, actor Jeremy Gilbert in April 2016.
