Actor, UW Alum, Tacoma Native Pamela Reed Featured in News Tribune

The News Tribune's Rosemary Ponnekanti has published an in-depth profile of Pamela Reed, who got her BFA from UW in Seattle. During her career as a character actor, she's appeared in movies, on TV and on stage: "Kindergarten Cop," "Parks & Recreation," "Criminal Minds," "Grey's Anatomy," "The Simpsons" and many others.

In the Q&A with the News Tribune, Reed talks about what it's like being back on stage in Seattle. Reed says, "This is my 41st year of making a living as an American actor. That's amazing. This girl from Tacoma had a big dream, and now I'm really thrilled to be doing work that means everything to me. ... Seattle is one of the great theater towns in the U.S., so I just have to bow and say thank you so much. It's marvelous to be back."

Reed notes that she's politically active in Tacoma, joining the fight against a methanol production plant proposed for construction in the city's Commencement Bay industrial area.

She talks about the play "Luna Gale," in which she'll appear as the lead character, at Seattle Repertory's Bagley Wright Theatre, March 11 - March 27. Her character, Caroline, is a social worker. Ponnekanti notes that Reed "has two adopted children and was adopted herself, [and] has an unfiltered yet compassionate view of both the situation and the system that controls it."

Ponnekanti asks Reed about Eve Reynolds, the arts writer at the News Tribune during the 1970s. Reed says, "She's the reason I'm an actor. She was my champion. When I left the University of Maryland and came back here, I did several plays at Lakewood Playhouse. Eve was like a mother to me. She was a big part of that village we all talk about that’s fundamental to raising a child. She asked me what I was doing with my life. At the time I was around 19 or 20, and thought I would teach English — but I was always acting at the same time. She didn’t push me, but she asked me the right question. So I went back to Tacoma Community College to see if I could keep a 4.0. Then I auditioned at the University of Washington, then went to New York. Speaking with Eve, I saw myself in a different way. She helped me expand my future to include what I loved."

Read the full story in the News Tribune: "Hollywood actor, Tacoma native Pamela Reed comes home to star in Seattle Repertory's "Luna Gale"

Get more information on Pamela Reed from the UW School of Drama.