SHARYN BAMBER

Sharyn Bamber was raised in Dumont, Iowa in a funeral home. Dancing was not the career her parents wanted for her. Determined to become a professional dancer, Sharyn attended the Edna McRae School of Dance in Chicago, then took her first job at the Chez Paree nightclub, over the objection of her teacher. “No nice girl would take a job in a place like that.” It was there that the legendary performer, Pearl Bailey, spotted her. For Sharyn, joining the Pearl Bailey Show became an eye-opening experience, which she recounts in touching detail in her memoir, Mama Pearl & Me. Performing throughout the country—Los Angeles, Las Vegas, St. Louis, Missouri, Montreal, Canada, Washington, D.C. and New York City—was a dream come true, until she opted to go her own way. Since that time, Sharyn has performed various roles onstage (A Doll’s House, Guys and Dolls, The Crucible) on television (Port Charles, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful) and on film (Ghost of Mississippi, A Little Sex, Moscow on the Hudson.) All the while, Sharyn has kept a day job as a court stenographer (a role which she also played onscreen in The Lincoln Lawyer.) It is her love for the written word that gives her writing its stirring power.