Irene Cara

Irene Cara was best known as a singer of movie themes and maintained an acting career that began in childhood. Raised by Latin American parents in New York City, she made her Broadway debut in 1967 (at age eight) in the musical Maggie Flynn and returned to the stage several years later with a role in the off-Broadway production The Me Nobody Knows. By the age of 18, she had diversified her résumé with TV and film gigs, too, landing roles in the TV mini-series Roots 2 and in the films Aaron Loves Angela and Sparkle. In 1980, Cara officially catapulted herself into the mainstrea...