Background
Singer was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. She grew up in a musical family: her father, Jacques Singer, was a conductor and protégé of Leopold Stokowski, and her mother, Leslie, is a concert pianist.
Singer was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. She grew up in a musical family: her father, Jacques Singer, was a conductor and protégé of Leopold Stokowski, and her mother, Leslie, is a concert pianist.
Juilliard School.
She is perhaps best known for her role as Ariel Moore, the female lead in the 1984 feature film Footloose, and as Julie Miller in the television series Fame. As a child, she was often around such luminaries as Leonard Bernstein. Singer is Jewish. A Juilliard-trained cellist, she was a student of Leonard Rose.
Singer made her debut as soloist at age thirteen with the Oregon Symphony.
Singer has performed in public on such stages as the Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall. She plays the cello in Short Cuts, Fame, and also in Sarabande (1997), a short film by Atom Egoyan which is part of the Inspired by Bach series.
Singer performed as soloist at Carnegie Hall in January 2008, premiering a hymn written by Karl Jenkins in memory of Martin Luther King, Junior.
Singer first came to notice when she was cast as dancer and cellist Julie Miller, one of the high school students, during the Fame (1982-1983) television series" first two seasons. The part was created for her.
After starring as Ariel Moore, the female lead in Footloose (1984), she starred in a number of other movies, including The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) directed by John Schlesinger and starring Sean Penn, and The Manitoba with One Red Shoe (also 1985) with Tom Hanks.
Singer has also had roles in Equinox (1992), Summer Heat (1987), Warlock (1989), Sunset Grill (1993), F.T.W. (1984), and the Robert Altman film Short Cuts (1993). She was awarded a Golden Globe as an actor for "Best Ensemble" for Short Cuts. In 1995, she played Sydney Bloom, the lead character in the science fiction television series VR.5.
In addition to her acting, she produced Summer Heat and was involved in the creative conception of VR.5.
On May 4, 2011, Singer returned to television with a guest-starring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2013, Singer executive produced with Sheila Nevins, Home Box Office and Jessica Kingdon the documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, directed by Alex Gibney.
The film was short-listed for the Academy Awards in 2013 and was nominated for a Writers Guild Award. In 2014 the documentary was awarded a Peabody Award.