Pam Grier: From 'Foxy Brown' And 'Coffy' To 'Jackie Brown'

Actress Pam Grier poses for a photo circa 1972 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images)

Pam Grier has gone by a lot of names other than Pam Grier: Foxy Brown, Coffy, Friday Foster, Sheba, Jackie Brown. When Pam Grier stars in a movie, the tough yet beautiful protagonist tends to be a lot like Pam Grier, the person, and Grier's forceful presence lingers in the mind more than any details of the plot. Quentin Tarantino, Jackie Brown's director and an obsessive student of film, declared her the first female action hero in cinema history, and the tag-line for one of her seventies called her “the baddest one-chick hit-squad”. Pam Grier was Foxy Brown -- but Foxy Brown was really just Pam Grier.

The smoking hot, tough-as-nails, undisputed queen of the blaxploitation movie genre that was popular in the early to mid-1970s, young Pam Grier was known for her beauty, curvy physique, prominent Afro hairdo, and big, bold characters. As an actress, Grier was able to evolve as Hollywood evolved. She’s come a long way, baby! From Foxy Brown to her award-winning role on The L Word to her cameo in the acclaimed TV series This Is Us, Pam Grier has shown that she is still a force to be reckoned with.