Pam Grier

Pam Grier
Grier smiling
Grier at the Canadian Film Centre
in February 2012
Born
Pamela Suzette Grier

(1949-05-26) May 26, 1949 (age 75)[1]
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.
Alma materMetropolitan State College
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
  • martial artist
Years active1970–present
Known forCoffy
Foxy Brown
Sheba, Baby
Friday Foster
Jackie Brown
The L Word

Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star[2] (although, many believe Cheng Pei-pei actually holds that distinction[3][4]), she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitation and women in prison films for American International Pictures and New World Pictures. Her accolades include nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Satellite Award and a Saturn Award.

Grier came to prominence with her titular roles in the films Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974); her other major films during this period included The Big Doll House (1971), Women in Cages (1971), The Big Bird Cage (1972), Black Mama White Mama (1973), Scream Blacula Scream (1973), The Arena (1974), Sheba, Baby (1975), Bucktown (1975) and Friday Foster (1975). She portrayed the title character in Quentin Tarantino's crime film Jackie Brown (1997), nearly three decades after her first starring role. Grier also appeared in Escape from L.A. (1996), Mars Attacks! (1996), Jawbreaker (1999), Holy Smoke!, (1999), Bones (2001), Just Wright (2010), Larry Crowne (2011) and Poms (2019).

On television, Grier portrayed Eleanor Winthrop in the Showtime comedy-drama series Linc's (1998–2000), Kate "Kit" Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word (2004–2009), and Constance Terry in the ABC sitcom Bless This Mess (2019–2020). She received praise for her work in the animated series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1999).

IndieWire named Grier one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.[5][6]

  1. ^ "Famous birthdays for May 26: Bobcat Goldthwait, Lenny Kravitz". UPI. May 26, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  2. ^ "Pam Grier". Wizard World. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  3. ^ https://screenrant.com/cheng-pei-pei-female-action-hero-movies-career/
  4. ^ https://www.straitstimes.com/life/entertainment/cheng-pei-pei-star-of-come-drink-with-me-and-crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-dies-at-78
  5. ^ Kiang, Jessica (January 1, 2016). "30 Great Actors Who've Never Been Oscar Nominated". Indiewire. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  6. ^ "Pam Grier Set for Career Tribute at Toronto Black Film Festival". The Hollywood Reporter.