Actress Grier slated for third annual Spa-Con

Grier
Grier

Actress Pam Grier, known for her award-winning performance in the title role of Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" and, more recently, as Amanda Waller on "Smallville," is set to join the group of celebrities slated for the third annual Spa-Con.

"Hot Springs is honored to welcome Ms. Grier to our convention," Bill Solleder, marketing director for Visit Hot Springs, said in a news release. "She will certainly be a stellar addition to Spa-Con 3."

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Grier

Grier, who starred in the so-called "Blaxploitation" movies of the 1970s and 1980s, will be a celebrity guest at the multigenre comics and pop culture convention in Hot Springs Sept. 21-23.

Grier is one of eight special guests announced today by Spa-Con organizers. She joins Sean Maher, star of the hit movie "Serenity" and the TV series "Arrow," Arvell Jones, a renowned illustrator for Marvel Comics, and Nightingale Vixen, the well-known cosplay performer, who were announced previously as guest celebrities for the convention.

Grier, a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., was discovered by director Jack Hill, who cast her in his women-in-prison films "The Big Doll House" (1971), and "The Big Bird Cage" (1972). She became a staple of early 1970s "Blaxploitation" movies, playing big, bold, assertive women, beginning with Jack Hill's "Coffy" (1973), in which she plays a nurse who seeks revenge on drug dealers. Her character was advertised in the trailer as the "baddest one-chick hit-squad that ever hit town," according to a biography provided by Visit Hot Springs.

Grier subsequently played similar characters in the AIP films "Foxy Brown" (1974), "Friday Foster" and "Sheba, Baby"(both 1975).

She acquired progressively larger character roles in the 1980s, including a prostitute in "Fort Apache the Bronx" (1981), a witch in "Something Wicked this Way Comes" (1983), and Steven Seagal's detective partner in "Above the Law" (1988). She made guest appearances on "Miami Vice," "Martin," "Night Court," "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and had a recurring role in the TV series "Crime Story" between 1986 and 1988. She also appeared on "Sinbad," "Preston Chronicles," "The Cosby Show," "The Wayans Brother Show" and "Mad TV." In 1994, Grier appeared in Snoop Dogg's video for "Doggy Dogg World."

On the stage, she appeared in Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love" and won Best Actress in a Play 1984, NAACP Image Award. She went on to Best Awards for "Frankie and Johnnie and the Claire De Lune" and "The Piano Lesson" by August Wilson.

In the late 1990s, Grier was a cast member of the Showtime series "Linc's." She starred in Tarantino's "Jackie Brown," a film that overtly paid homage to her '70s "Blaxploitation" movies. In 1997 Grier was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress and by the Screen Actors Guild for best actress in a performance for Jackie Brown.

Veronica Taylor, voice actress best known for her portrayal of Ash Ketchum from "Pokemon," will also join the celebrity guests. Taylor is the voice of other notable animated characters including April O'Neil from the 2003 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series and Sailor Pluto in the Viz Media dub of "Sailor Moon." Taylor has also narrated audiobooks by authors such as Judy Blume, Danielle Steele, Mary Kay Andrews and others.

Other Spa-Con guests announced include cosplayer Nipah Dubs, comics and visual artist known for developing brands Fayettechill and Houndstooth Clothing Co. Chad Maupin, David Lasky, a returning comics and visual artist, Bill Tsutsui, president and professor of history at Hendrix College, award-winning video game designer and author Ross Watson, and St. Louis cartoonist Yale Stewart, best known for creating, writing, and illustrating the award-winning webcomic, "JL8."

"Altogether, we will have more than two dozen celebrity guests at this year's Spa-Con," Solleder said. "We had over 5,000 people in attendance last year."

Spa-Con, presented by Visit Hot Springs and the Garland County Library, will be held at the Hot Springs Convention Center, with an array of activities that will include laser tag, an escape room, video games, panel discussions, workshops, cosplay contests and interaction with the celebrity guests.

Weekend passes and VIP passes for Spa-Con 3 are on sale now at www.spa-con.org.

Local on 05/04/2018

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