BIO
Pamela Clay Magathan
Pamela, a European-trained, Oklahoma-born Army brat, has worked in films,
television, studios, on stage and radio as an actress-singer in the U.S. and Europe
since age 5. Born Pamela Clay Magathan in a family of seven children to her
Southern-belle-artist Mom and West-Point-trained Dad, who always said: â
€œshe sang before she spokeâ€�, Pamela moved to Paris, France, when she
was 11; at 13, sang “O, Holy Night� live on national German television
and at 17, won the “Best Actress Award� playing “Eliza� in MY
FAIR LADY at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia. Her freshman
year at KU, she starred in the BMI-award-winning musical, SUN, SON and
sophomore year played FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’s ‘Chava’ to
Mandy Patinkin’s ‘Tevye’.
Fluent in French, Pamela spent her junior year abroad at the University of
Bordeaux, France, where she stayed on to live in the S. French countryside,
touring as ‘The American Singer’ with rock bands Attila and Point Zero.
Pamela later returned to Washington, DC., where she got her BA in Dramatic
Art and the ‘Paul Parady Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions to
the University Theatre’ at GWU, while playing ‘Jenny’ in Three
Penny Opera and performed her one-woman show in English and French,
Passions et Tendresses at the John F. Kennedy Center. One hot summer,
Pamela was among the first chosen by Sanford Meisner for private study with a
small group of actors (including screenwriter-to-be Peter Hedges, What’s
Eating Gilbert Grape?) on Bequia, in the West Indies. Back in DC, she
headlined with rock band, The New Tempest, appeared as French chanteuse
and jazz / standards singer accompanied by pianist Ramon Ballve at venerable
establishments like the Shoreham, the Hay Adams and the Mayflower Hotels,
and co-starred opposite Tommy Lee Jones in Brit Mick Jackson-directed thriller,
Yuri Nosenko, KGB, as the ‘femme fatale nightclub singer/call-girl’.
Upon arrival to Los Angeles, she won the $100 First Prize singing Stand by
Your Man at the (former) Palomino, appeared as ‘The French Chanteuse’
at the Moonlight Tango Café, and has sung at The Dresden, Arena, lâ
€™Ermitage, Chez Nous and performed her one-woman show at Tom Rollaâ
€™s Gardenia. Pamela has continued to work steadily as an actress and singer
since her arrival to Hollywood, in movies, television, voice-overs and onstage.
She’s currently recording vocals on ‘original deep-fried Cajun rock’
band CATAHOULA’s second CD, whose venues include the Troubadour,
Whisky, Roxy, BB Kings at Universal City Walk, Paramount and Dreamworks
Studios, studying acting under (the incomparable!) Gene Bua, preparing her next
one-woman show, Songs from the Soul.
Pamela, a European-trained, Oklahoma-born Army brat, has worked in films,
television, studios, on stage and radio as an actress-singer in the U.S. and Europe
since age 5. Born Pamela Clay Magathan in a family of seven children to her
Southern-belle-artist Mom and West-Point-trained Dad, who always said: â
€œshe sang before she spokeâ€�, Pamela moved to Paris, France, when she
was 11; at 13, sang “O, Holy Night� live on national German television
and at 17, won the “Best Actress Award� playing “Eliza� in MY
FAIR LADY at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia. Her freshman
year at KU, she starred in the BMI-award-winning musical, SUN, SON and
sophomore year played FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’s ‘Chava’ to
Mandy Patinkin’s ‘Tevye’.
Fluent in French, Pamela spent her junior year abroad at the University of
Bordeaux, France, where she stayed on to live in the S. French countryside,
touring as ‘The American Singer’ with rock bands Attila and Point Zero.
Pamela later returned to Washington, DC., where she got her BA in Dramatic
Art and the ‘Paul Parady Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions to
the University Theatre’ at GWU, while playing ‘Jenny’ in Three
Penny Opera and performed her one-woman show in English and French,
Passions et Tendresses at the John F. Kennedy Center. One hot summer,
Pamela was among the first chosen by Sanford Meisner for private study with a
small group of actors (including screenwriter-to-be Peter Hedges, What’s
Eating Gilbert Grape?) on Bequia, in the West Indies. Back in DC, she
headlined with rock band, The New Tempest, appeared as French chanteuse
and jazz / standards singer accompanied by pianist Ramon Ballve at venerable
establishments like the Shoreham, the Hay Adams and the Mayflower Hotels,
and co-starred opposite Tommy Lee Jones in Brit Mick Jackson-directed thriller,
Yuri Nosenko, KGB, as the ‘femme fatale nightclub singer/call-girl’.
Upon arrival to Los Angeles, she won the $100 First Prize singing Stand by
Your Man at the (former) Palomino, appeared as ‘The French Chanteuse’
at the Moonlight Tango Café, and has sung at The Dresden, Arena, lâ
€™Ermitage, Chez Nous and performed her one-woman show at Tom Rollaâ
€™s Gardenia. Pamela has continued to work steadily as an actress and singer
since her arrival to Hollywood, in movies, television, voice-overs and onstage.
She’s currently recording vocals on ‘original deep-fried Cajun rock’
band CATAHOULA’s second CD, whose venues include the Troubadour,
Whisky, Roxy, BB Kings at Universal City Walk, Paramount and Dreamworks
Studios, studying acting under (the incomparable!) Gene Bua, preparing her next
one-woman show, Songs from the Soul.
