Pam Grier

Actress Pam Grier grew up on U.S. Air Force bases in Europe and near Denver, Colorado. She moved to Hollywood and worked as a production assistant, eventually falling into the role of actress in 1970, appearing in Roger Corman thrillers such as Women in Cages (1971). Beautiful and leggy, Grier played a tough and foxy chick in a string of action movies in the 1970s -- dubbed "blaxpoitation" films -- most notably Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974). She had a small but memorable role in 1981's Fort Apache, The Bronx (starring Paul Newman), but spent much of the decade performing on stage and missing out on choice Hollywood roles. After small but regular roles in TV's Miami Vice and Crime Story in the late 1980s, Grier's film career heated up again. She co-starred with fellow blaxpoitation filmmaker Fred Williamson in Original Gangstas (1996), had a major role in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996) and had the starring role in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997, with Samuel L. Jackson and Robert DeNiro). Grier joined the cast of the cable televisions series The L Word in 2004.

Extra credit: Popular rapper Foxy Brown took her stage name from Grier's 1974 film.