Pam Grier

Award-winning American actress Pam Grier was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is of Spanish, Filipino, and Chinese descent. Her mother is a Cheyenne Indian, while her father is an African-American. Because of her father’s work in the Air Force, Pam traveled a lot when she was young. Her family eventually chose to stay in Denver, where she was a student in East High School. It was there where Pam participated in stage productions and joined beauty contests to earn money for college tuition at Metropolitan State College.

She moved to Los Angeles to be an actress. Grier finally got her break in films like Foxy Brown, The Big Bird Cage, Coffy, and Sheba Baby. The actress also made an appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, for which she got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Tarantino gave credit to Grier for being the cinema’s first female action star.