Pam Grier

Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. 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 also played alongside Richard Pryor as his character Wendell Scott’s wife in the film Greased Lightning (1977). She portrayed the title character in 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), Snow Day (2000), 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). In 2016, IndieWire named Grier one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.