Background

Pamela Gien was born in 1957, in Emmarentia, South Africa, a suburb of Johannesburg, during apartheid.

Career

Pamela Gien moved to the United States in 1983 where she began an acting career. She was a principal member of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge for four seasons. She appeared in the Public Theatre's New York Shakespeare Festival production of Titus Andronicus playing, what Thomas M. Disch of the Nation called, "A vivid Lavinia, both in the scenes of her ravishment and of her mute sufferings."

Gien used some of her personal experiences growing up in South Africa to craft her one-woman show, The Syringa Tree. This is the story of a white family and a black family during apartheid in South Africa, trying to live together while still retaining their dignity. The play is loosely based on some of Gien's own experiences. The violent and senseless murder of her grandfather is one element from her own life that finds its way into the play.

The play began as an acting exercise of Gien's in the small Los Angeles acting studio run by Larry Moss. Matt Salinger, an independent film producer, witnessed the exercise and felt it needed to be seen by a wider audience. Together with the three work-shopped the piece for two years in Moss's studio, before opening the play in Seattle at the ACT Theatre. They then took the play to New York, in September of 2000. The play was praised by critics not only for its heartfelt and moving story but also for Gien's dynamic performance.

Her television appearances include guest-starring roles in Tales From the Crypt, Reasonable Doubts, Hunter, Secret Lives, and Into Thin Air. Her film credits include Men Seeking Women and The Last Supper.

Achievements

• Pamela Gien has acted in a number of plays and appeared on television and in movies. As both writer and performer of The Syringa Tree, Pamela Gien won the Obie for Best Play of 2001, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, a Drama League Honor, and nomination for the John Gassner Playwriting Award.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Syringa Tree: A Play 2001

• movie

  • The Last Supper

    (A biting black comedy, The Last Supper details the lives ...)

    1996
  • Men Seeking Women

    (Three friends engage in a bet of $2, 000 each to see who ...)

    1997

• TV series

  • Tales From The Crypt

    (Based on the EC Comics series of the same name, this camp...)

    1989