China Wing Kantner (born January 25, 1971) is an American actress in television, theater, and film. She is also a former MTV VJ, sometimes credited on-screen as China Slick Kantner.
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Biography
Kantner was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of two Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship band members, singer Grace Slick (born Grace Wing) and guitarist Paul Kantner. She is a native of San Francisco, living first in the city itself, and later in Mill Valley. She has two half-brothers, one who is older and one who is younger.
A common misbelief is that her name was originally "god" (with a small "g"), and was only later changed to "China". However, Jeff Tamarkin's 2003 book on the history of Jefferson Airplane, Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane, explains this resulted from a sardonic remark made by her mother to a nurse.
Later in her MTV career, she was credited simply as "China Kantner". In January 1988, she was interviewed by Jonathan King for the BBC TV show Entertainment USA as part of a feature on the children of rock stars working as MTV VJs. During this interview, she stated that, while she initially did not like her name, she grew to like it as she got older.
