Pamela Isaacs

Pamela Isaacs is a California-born American actress and singer whose stage career has spanned regional theater, Broadway, national tours, television, and film.

Isaacs built her stage foundation through a series of notable regional productions before reaching Broadway. In 1987 she appeared at AMAS Repertory Theater in Conrack, a musical adapted from Pat Conroy's novel The Water is Wide, playing Dr. Jackie Brooks, a representative of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare who becomes romantically involved with the story's central character. The following year she replaced LaTonya Sue Welch in the role of Effie in Michael Bennett's production of Dreamgirls at An Evening Dinner Theater in Elmsford, New York. In 1989 she took on the title role of Kay Jones in the Goodspeed Opera House revival of the Gershwins' Oh, Kay!, a production relocated from Long Island to Harlem with an all-black cast. Isaacs has also performed at Long Wharf Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, and Yale Repertory Theatre.

Her regional work continued into the 1990s with two productions at Center Stage in Baltimore. In 1993 she portrayed Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, a run that was extended due to strong audience response. The production was recorded and released as an album in 1998. In 1995 she returned to Center Stage to play Salvation Army worker Lilian Holiday in a production of Kurt Weill's Happy End. During her time in Baltimore, she also appeared in one episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Earlier in her career, Isaacs toured Europe, the USSR, and Africa with the rhythm and blues group Starfire, and appeared in Los Angeles productions including Dark of the Moon, Sessions Reasons, The Ballad of Eveline, and a production in which she performed as a solo vocalist.

Isaacs made her Broadway debut in 1997 in the musical The Life, where she played Queen, a sex worker seeking a home and marriage. Her performance earned her both a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. The Life ran for 466 performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. In 1999 she returned to Broadway in a revival of Working, based on Studs Terkel's book of the same name, playing a plastic-molding machine worker. Her Broadway career also included appearances in The Life Line and A Life, with her Broadway work spanning from 1997 to 2003.

In 2001 Isaacs won an Obie Award for her off-Broadway performance in Newyorkers, in which she played a Starbucks counter worker and performed the number "No Hurry at All." That same year she appeared in the national tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie, playing Muzzy Van Hossmere, a cabaret singer and Manhattan heiress. The role had been created for Carol Channing in the original Broadway production.

On television, Isaacs played Dr. Josie Conklin on the daytime drama One Life to Live and made guest appearances on Third Watch in addition to her earlier appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street. In 2002 she appeared as Mrs. Egan in the film Swimfan.