Ren Hanami grew up in Huntington Beach, California with roots in Hawaii. Her parents were Alice Akimi Hanna of Japanese descent originally from the sugar plantation on Kekaha, Hawaii, and James Arthur Hanna, a rocket scientist who worked on Navstar, the first GPS satellite. Hanna descended from the Clan Hannay and Sorbie Tower in south west Scotland. (en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbie_Tower)tt4591680

Hanami is a 2021 Inductee into the Asian Hall of Fame and is Co-Chair of its Trauma Advocacy Initiative. She is known for being the long time National Chair of the SAG-AFTRA Asian Pacific American Media Committee and advocate for representation of Asian Pacific Islanders in entertainment. #RepresentationMatters. Hanami is an award-winning actress and singer known for Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Star Trek: Picard (2020) and Disney's Bunk'd (2015). She is also an award-winning writer and director known for Like Last Night (2017) and Lizard Lesson (2016). She began her show business career as a singer and dancer at Disneyland and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater and a Certificate in Feature Film Writing from U.C.L.A. Hanami's self-produced CDs are "Akimi: Songs For My Mom," "Alien" and "Private Island." Her soprano voice can be heard singing "You've Got A Friend," on Maki Mae's Asian Hall of Fame album "Down By The Water."