Susan Robeson, born and raised in Harlem, began her career as a filmmaker and television producer in 1972, when she co-founded Third World Newsreel, a film and media arts center in New York City, and co-produced, photographed, and edited “Teach Our Children,” a documentary film about the 1971 prison rebellion at Attica State Prison. Ms. Robeson spent the next five years working as a cinematographer and editor for Third World Newsreel and also co-founded a small theatre for film exhibition, Higher Ground Cinema. She joined the staff of WABC-TV and began producing the Emmy award-winning television program “Like It Is,” a weekly public affairs program known for its hard-hitting, controversial material and diverse style, including one-hour documentaries. Still the longest-running Black-produced program on television, “Like It Is” became something of an institution in New York, not only for African-Americans, but as an alternative voice in mainstream media for diverse communities.
Among the many programs Ms. Robeson produced, directed and wrote are “Before the White Man Came,” a six-part series on Native American history and culture, and “Capoeira,” a short documentary film about the Brazilian martial art brought to the New World by Angolan slaves. After leaving WABC-TV in 1985, she produced and directed a series of music documentaries for national syndication by WNBC-TV, including two jazz documentaries, “Ella on Ella” and “Mr. B,” about the life and times of jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Eckstine.
In 1988, she became a producer on the start-up team of “The Eleventh Hour,” a nightly public affairs series, for public television. In 1991, Ms. Robeson was invited to KTCA/Twin Cities Public Television to create and implement her model for community empowerment through television, involving an eclectic mix of grassroots community organizing, training, production, and programming. This included creating and launching “Kev Koom Siab,” an award-winning weekly program by, for, and about the Southeast Asian Hmong community, produced (in Hmong) by an all-Hmong staff that she recruited and trained. She also created “Don’t Believe the Hype,” an offbeat Emmy award-winning series that put all the aspects of planning and production in the hands of at-risk African American youth. She was awarded a Saint Paul Companies Leadership In Neighborhoods (LIN) grant in 1995 to spend time in South Africa training township-based video groups so they can apply for broadcast licenses to operate their own mainstream broadcast channels, now a priority in the remaking of television in a new South Africa.
Ms. Robeson has also been a Bush Artist Fellow in Film/Video (Minneapolis 1994) and is a former New York Foundation for the Arts Film Fellow (1985). She was also a two-year film/video artist-in-residence at Walker Art Center (1996-1998), exploring the genre of fictionalized documentaries. Ms. Robeson is currently at work on a screenplay about a Cherokee woman of African descent and her resistance to the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation in 1838. She teaches part-time at Macalester College.
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Being honored by the entertainment industry with an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, plus a nod from fans via a People’s Choice Award won in 1983, might, for some, be considered the pinnacle of a performer’s career. For actress/ dancer/ singer/ songwriter Irene Cara, who garnered all of these awards for co-writing and performing “What a Feeling,” the title song from the motion picture blockbuster, “Flashdance” it simply serves as an auspicious beginning to a groundbreaking career.
First captivating her family, sometime after her fifth birthday playing piano by ear, Irene began studying music, acting, and dance. As a child, she began working professionally while singing and dancing on Spanish television. She went on to appear in various theatrical |
shows both on and off Broadway such as the Obie Award winning musical, “The Me Nobody Knows” and “Maggie Flynn,” starring Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy.
Her first national TV series was by way of a year’s stint on the “Electric Company,” playing a member of the rock group, “The Short Circus,” delivering musical grammar lessons through the educational program. The series starred Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno, and a very young Morgan Freeman. By age 8, Ms. Cara had already recorded her first record in Spanish for the Latin market and a Christmas LP in English soon after.
As a pre-teenager, she starred in the title role of her debut motion picture, Aaron Loves Angela, which led to the title role in the cult-classic musical drama, “Sparkle.”
Irene has successfully made the transition from theater-to television, to records, to feature films, having combined the latter with a recording career. Irene starred in two historic television mini series “Roots: The Next Generation,” the adaptation of Alex Haley’s moving novel, and “The Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones.”
However, it was the box office smash, “Fame” in 1980, which catapulted Irene to stardom. As Coco Hernandez, she sang both the title song “Fame” and the film’s second hit single, “Out There On My Own,” resulting in a multi-platinum soundtrack that shot to the top of the charts. Irene is the only performer ever to sing and have two Academy Award nominated songs, “Fame” and “Out There On My Own” in one category. “Fame” won the coveted award that year.
“Fame’s” impact, provided largely by Ms. Cara, brought her 1980 Grammy nominations for "Best New Female Artist" and "Best New Pop Artist," as well as a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical." Billboard Magazine named Irene "Top New Single Artist," while Cashbox awarded her both "Most Promising Female Vocalist" and "Top Female Vocalist."
In 1982, she received the Image Award for Best Actress when she co-starred with Diahann Carroll and Rosalind Cash in the NBC Movie of the Week, Sisters. Further demonstrating her diversity, Irene portrayed Myrlie Evers in the PBS movie about Civil Rights Leader, Medgar Evers. The film, “For Us the Living,” cast Irene opposite Howard Rollins of “A Soldier's Story” fame.
She has toured throughout Asia, Europe and Japan. She is working on a new CD with an all female band of the most talented musicians very aptly called Hot Caramel. She has also written her first screen play entitled “A Waltz with Destiny,” a dramatic musical film of which she has also composed the music.
For more information on Irene Cara visit www.irenecara.com
70s Fashion Hair Show & Closing Reception 6 pm
Sponsored by Khamit Kinks
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