Thia Megia

Thialorei Lising Megia (born January 30, 1995)[1] is a Filipino-American singer and television actress. She is known for being a contestant on the tenth season of American Idol and for starring as Haley Chen on Days of Our Lives.[3]

Thia Megia
Megia singing in 2011
Background information
Birth nameThialorei Lising Megia[1]
Born (1995-01-30) January 30, 1995
Hayward, California[2]
OriginMountain House, California,
United States[1]
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
InstrumentsVocals, guitar, piano
Years active2007–present

Early life

Megia was born in Hayward, California, to Cynthia and Loreto Megia.[4] Her parents, originally from Angeles, Pampanga, Philippines, emigrated to the United States in 1968 and changed their name from Mejia to Megia.[4] She attended Eden Gardens Elementary School in Hayward through the sixth grade, but was cyber-schooled online at California Virtual Academy,[5] when the family moved to Mountain House, California.[2]

She has won singing competitions in San Jose and Saratoga and has sung the national anthem at San Jose Giants, Stanford football and San Francisco 49ers games.[2][6] She also appeared on the TV show Showtime at the Apollo as the Kid Star of Tomorrow in 2008 when she was 13.[7]

Prior to Idol, however, Megia was best known for her appearance on the fourth season of America's Got Talent in 2009.[8] She made it to the quarterfinals, but was cut in the Top 40 round.[2] That same year, she was invited to sing at the David Foster and Friends concert in California.[9] She is the first America's Got Talent contestant to advance to voting rounds on American Idol.

Megia was one of the singers in Lisa Lavie's February 20, 2010, collaboration video "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube Edition)" for charity relief for victims of the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake, along with Jessica Sanchez.[10] The video's participants were collectively recognized as "Persons of the Week" on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer on Friday, March 19, 2010.[11]

She had her debut concert at Le Petit Trianon Theatre in San Jose, California, on March 27, 2010.[12]

Career

American Idol

Megia auditioned for the tenth season of American Idol in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with the song "Chasing Pavements" by Adele.

On March 31, 2011, Megia and Naima Adedapo were eliminated from American Idol.

As of season 10, Megia is the youngest finalist to ever appear on Idol after they changed the minimum age limit to 15 years.[13]

Performances/results
Episode Theme Song choice Original artist Order # Result
Audition Auditioner's Choice "Chasing Pavements" Adele N/A Advanced
Hollywood Round, Part 1 First Solo "Summertime" Abbie Mitchell N/A Advanced
Hollywood Round, Part 2 Group Performance Unaired Unaired N/A Advanced
Hollywood Round, Part 3 Second Solo "What a Wonderful World" Louis Armstrong N/A Advanced
Las Vegas Round Songs of The Beatles Group Performance "Here Comes the Sun"
with Melinda Ademi		 The Beatles N/A Advanced
Hollywood Round Final Final Solo to determine Top 24 "You Raise Me Up" Secret Garden N/A Advanced
Top 24 (12 Females) Personal Choice "Out Here on My Own" Irene Cara 10 Advanced
Top 13 Your Personal Idol "Smile" Charlie Chaplin 9 Safe
Top 12 Year You Were Born "Colors of the Wind" Vanessa Williams 3 Safe
Top 11 Motown "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave" Martha and the Vandellas 2 Bottom 31
Top 112 Elton John "Daniel" Elton John 8 Eliminated
  • ^Note 1 Megia was saved first from elimination.
  • ^Note 2 Due to the judges using their one save to save Casey Abrams, the Top 11 remained intact for another week.

Post Idol

Megia and the rest of the top 11 took part in the 2011 American Idols LIVE! Tour, which began in West Valley City, Utah, on July 6, 2011, and ended in Manila, Philippines on September 20, 2011.[14] Both the eliminated contestants, Naima Adedapo and Thia Megia, appeared and performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Live with Regis and Kelly.[15][16] Megia recently had a welcome home celebration at the West Valley Mall in Tracy, California, and Central Park in Mountain House, California.[17] On November 12, 2011, Megia was invited to perform the U.S. National Anthem for the opening ceremony of the World Boxing Organization Welterweight Championship match between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. Her rendition of the song "One Day" was marked as a Bonus Track for the "Quest for Zhu: Music from the Motion Picture" album which was released on November 21, 2011.[18] She appeared on Philippine shows named Eat Bulaga and Manny Many Prizes with Pia Toscano, Stefano Langone and Scotty McCreery.[19]

On April 19, 2012, Megia began an Asian concert tour in which she headlined concerts in Manila, Taipei, Bali, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur.[20] In May and June 2012, Megia performed in The Finalists Live! at the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri with Lee Dewyze, Elliott Yamin, Kimberly Caldwell, and Blake Lewis.[21]

Published on April 13, 2017, Megia was the guest singer for Postmodern Jukebox's cover of the Gorillaz's "Feel Good Inc."[22] Later in 2017, Megia was one of four featured singers (along with Sara Niemietz, Rayvon Owen and Blake Lewis) in Postmodern Jukebox's cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."[23]

Acting

Megia began her acting career in 2017, when she guest starred in two episodes of Totally Funny. In the same year she appeared in two short films "Eye of Enmity" and "Yellow Rose", followed by guest starring in two series, Pop Music High as Ava and Tails of the Blue as Princess Cordelia. In 2018, she guest-starred in A.S.S (A Scary Sleepover) as Kristen and in the same year, she joined the cast of Days of Our Lives as a character named Haley Chen.[24] She debuted on December 19, 2018.

Discography

Singles
YearTitleAlbum
2011"One Day"Quest for Zhu: Music from the Motion Picture
2012"We'll Be There"Disney Fairies: Faith, Trust And Pixie Dust

Filmography
Film roles
Year Title Role Notes
2017 Eye of Enmity Kayla Short film
Yellow Rose Rose
Television roles
Year Title Role Notes
2011 American Idol Herself Contestant; 12 episodes
2017 Totally Funny Savannah

Saffron / Hannah / Herself

 Episode: "Episode #1.4"

Episode: "Episode dated 10 October 2017"

2017 Pop Music High Ava Three episodes
Tails of the Blue Princess Cordelia Four episodes
2018 A.S.S. (A Scary Sleepover) Kristen Three episodes
2018–2019, 2020 Days of Our Lives Haley Chen Regular role
2019 Coop & Cami Ask the World Min Episode: "Would You Rather Get a Selfie?"

Nominations
Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2020 47th Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Young Performer in a Drama Series Days of Our Lives Nominated
[25]

References
  1. Nepales, Janet Susan R. Thia Megia makes it to AI’s top 13
  2. "'American Idol': Top 13 finalist Thia Megia is living the dream". Mercurynews.com. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  3. "ICYMI: THIA MEGIA INTERVIEW". Soap Opera Digest. February 12, 2019.
  4. "Thia Megia thankful to Filipino fans". Manila Bulletin. March 14, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  5. "California Virtual Academy Student Shoots for the Stars on American Idol". PRNEwswire. March 18, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
  6. "'American Idol' contestant carries on musical legacy". Mercury News. March 4, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  7. "Teen Star of The Week- Thia Megia". Teen Star Magazine. August 5, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  8. "Thia Megia's Performance". NBC.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  9. "Charice ecstatic over Fil-Am Thia Megia's 'Idol' stint". Mb.com.ph. 2011-03-02. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  10. "We Are The World 25 For Haiti (YouTube Edition)" video posted to Lisa Lavie's YouTube channel "LisaLavie1" on February 20, 2010 (WebCite archive) (click video description to expand and see participant listing).
  11. Sawyer, Diane, "Persons of the Week" feature, ABC World News with Diane Sawyer (March 19, 2010). National television news feature can be seen in the "Lisa Lavie's Interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC World News" video posted to YouTube channel LLjustlikeamovie on March 19, 2010 (WebCite archive (2010-07-22)).
  12. "Thia Megia, LIVE!". Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  13. Fil-Am Thia Megia among frontrunners in ‘American Idol’ Archived March 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ""American Idol" Judges Save Contestant; Fantasia to Perform on Next Results Show". Playbill.com. 2011-03-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  15. "American Idol Finalists on The Tonight Show". Thedeadbolt.com. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  16. AInow Archived April 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  17. "Welcome Home Event for Thia Megia, retrieved 13-Nov-2011". Mhvillages.com. 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  18. "Zhu Zhu Pets: Quest For Zhu Soundtrack CD Album". Cduniverse.com. 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
  19. "Scotty McCreery and Thia Megia on Eat Bulaga!". Eatbulaga.tv. 2011-09-19. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  20. "Thia Megia to embark on Asian concert tour". ABS-CBNnews.com. 2012-04-18.
  21. "American Idols In The Finalists Live". Bransom Tourism Center. 2012-05-20.
  22. Bradlee, Scott (13 April 2017). "Feel Good Inc. - Vintage Ella Fitzgerald Style Gorillaz Cover ft. Thia Megia". YouTube. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  23. "PMJ Gives Thanks With "Don't Stop Believin'" - a Dazzling, One-Take Video Epic! - Postmodern Jukebox". Postmodern Jukebox. 2017-11-20. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  24. "THIA MEGIA CAST ON DAYS". Soap Opera Digest. November 11, 2018.
  25. "Daytime Emmy Awards 2020 Nominations: The Complete List". emmyonline.org and National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. May 21, 2020.
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