Happy Friday! Today’s Famous Friday features the former American actress Phoebe Cates!
Cates is of White and Chinese-Filipino descent and was born in 1963 in New York City. Her father, Joseph Cates, was a well-renowned Broadway producer and television figure. Furthermore, her uncle produced several television and Academy Awards shows. Because she was exposed to Broadway culture through her family, she began her career at a young age.
As a child she was a student at the Professional Children’s School and the Juilliard School. Also, she began her modeling career when she was 10. She also received a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, but at age 14 due to a knee injury, she had to quit dance. After dancing, she began to continue her career in modeling.
When Cates was a teen model, she was showcased on the cover of Seventeen 4 times throughout her short career. After being discontent in her modeling career, Cates decided to begin acting. She was a part of the movie Paradise and starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Private School, where she sang two filmtrack songs.
One year after acting in Private School, she starred in a mini-TV series called Lace and the sequel named Lace II which was based on a novel. In her audition, the author of the book was so impressed with her acting that he wanted to hire her then. Under the producer Steven Speilburg, she co-starred in Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch, the highest grossing movie throughout her professional career. For the remainder of her career she was a part of several Off-Broadway productions and other films from the 1990s to 2015. Her success as a White and Asian actress inspires the Multiracial community today as she is a representation of Biracial individuals everywhere and is an encouragement to those who experience adversity due to their ethnicity.
Ella Garrison, Project RACE Teen Vice-President
Photo Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_Cates