Pamella D'Pella

Pamella D'Pella was born on August 22, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois although she grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since the age of four, Pamella has always wanted to be a "movie star". She would sit in the window, singing and reciting to passersby. As a young child, she overheard a conversation between her mother and her voice teacher telling her mother that she was tone deaf and would never be able to carry a note, so between the ages of 9 through her graduate school years; she avoided musicals or anything that required singing. She was a cheerleader from seventh grade through her college. While cheering for the University of Cincinnati she went Professional. Professionally cheering as a Ben-Gal for the Cincinnati Bengals for two years. She broke barriers by becoming one of the first Black cheerleaders at Mt. Healthy High School and with the Cincinnati Bengals. She was very active through her teenage years: she was an athlete, a cheerleader, and, naturally, an actor! At the age of 16, she was crowned Ms. NAACP and was the first Black "Cincinnati Junior Miss" she went on with that title to win for her city, "Junior Miss Ohio Physical Fitness", 2nd in talent, and 4th in the State. Not content with a fourth place win, she went on to be crowned, "Miss Aerospace" and "Miss. Hemisphere". In high school, The International Thespian Society honored Pamella with Certificates of Recognition for excellence of movement and characterization and a Meritous award Participation in Theatre Arts for her work as the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz." This was quite an honor for she started this journey with the school play, "Peter Pan" whereas she auditioned for the dog but landed the lead. As "Peter" she was so proud; she went around the school calling herself "Peter Pam!" If acting was king then academics were queen and sports, the royal court. Pamella won one of many college scholarships with the national writing contest "What's Right about America." She was a theatre major performing in show after show, She received standing ovations for her work as the "The Dark Queen" in the "Snow White" and great press reviews for her performance in David Mamet's "Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Pamella knew that she had to take her craft to a higher level; she left Cincinnati to attend The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Pamella was awarded permission to live at the United States International House, housing only available to post graduate International students and Americans with high academic grades and social achievements. In New York, studying was at a high concentration. Acting at the Academy, dance at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and writing at the Frank Silvera workshop.