Irene Cara was born Irene Escalera in the Bronx, New York, NY on March
18, 1964 (sometimes misstated as 1959). The daughter of an Afro-Puerto
Rican father and a French-Cuban mother, Irene first entertained
audiences at age five when she played the piano. She then studied
music, dance, and acting and found work as a child actor on
Spanish-language television. At age 8, she had her first record, which
was in Spanish; this was followed by an English-language Christmas
album.
As she grew up, Irene found work in Broadway theatricals including "The
Me Nobody Knows" and "Maggie Flynn" with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy.
As a teenager, she appeared in "The Electric Company", an educational
series. Next came the role of Angela in a romance thriller "Aaron Loves
Angela." Her next most notable series was in "Roots: The Next
Generation" by Alex Haley. Her most famous role followed in the movie
"Fame", where she played Coco Hernandez, in which she sang the title
song. At the Academy Awards, she sang both nominated songs from the
movie: "Fame" and "Out Here On My Own". It was "Fame" that won the top
award and garnered Irene her 1980 Grammy nominations for "Best New
Female Artist" and "Top Female Vocalist."
Irene has gone on to win every major award in the entertainment industry
with the exception of a television Emmy and a Broadway Tony. Her
follow-up success after "Fame" was in "Flashdance" (1983). Irene
appeared along with Diahann Carroll in 1982 for which she earned an
Image Award for Best Actress in the NBC Movie of the Week, "Sisters."
She won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Song, the 1984 Grammy Award for
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and a 1984 Golden Globe Award for
Best Original Song, as well as many more awards. Throughout the 1980s,
her most successful decade, she released three albums. In 1986 she
married a Hollywood stuntman, but they divorced five years later. She
often appeared on television specials and talk shows, including the Ed
Sullivan Show and the Tonight Show, with Johnny Carson.
In March of 2004, Irene was inducted into the Ciboney Cafe's Prestigious
Hall of Fame, then a week later was given a Lifetime Achievement Honor at
the 6th Annual Prestige Awards.
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