Jamie Donnelly

Jamie Donnelly is an American actress, singer, and acting coach originally from Teaneck, New Jersey, whose Broadway career spanned from 1965 to 1975. She is best known for playing Jan, one of the Pink Ladies, in both the stage and film versions of Grease, and for originating the role of Magenta in the United States premiere of The Rocky Horror Show.

Donnelly's Broadway credits include Flora, The Red Menace, George M!, the revue Rodgers & Hart, The Rocky Horror Show, and Grease. Her stage career also included a musical version of Tarzan. Among her film co-stars in Grease, John Travolta and Jeff Conaway had each appeared in the stage production in different roles, and Frankie Avalon reprised his film character on stage, but Donnelly was the only cast member to carry the same character from the stage version directly into the film. She was 31 at the time of the film's release and dyed her graying hair to continue fitting the role.

Prior to Grease, Donnelly was part of the company that brought The Rocky Horror Show to the United States. The production opened at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles in 1974, where she played Magenta and the Usherette alongside Tim Curry and Meat Loaf. She is featured on the original Roxy cast recording, performing the opening number "Science Fiction/Double Feature." When most of the Roxy cast moved to Broadway to reprise their roles in 1975, Donnelly was among them. She did not, however, appear in the subsequent film adaptation; Patricia Quinn, who had originated the role of Magenta in the British production, reprised it instead.

In 2017, Donnelly appeared as herself on the television game show revival of To Tell The Truth. The episode featured a contestant identified as the real "pinkest lady in the world," and after that person was revealed, Donnelly disclosed that she was one of the Pink Ladies from Grease. Outside of performing, she works as an acting coach and lives in La Cañada Flintridge, California, with her husband, novelist Stephen Foreman. She has two adult children.