Hollywood has never lacked talent. Throughout its history, there have been hundreds of men and women who graced screens, providing entertainment through their roles as they get awarded for their outstanding performances. In this vast catalogue of actors and actresses is Lori Singer who has been in the industry for over 30 years and is known for famous works like Footloose and Fame.
Lori Singer has forged an illustrious career as an actress, carving a filmography that many aspiring actors and actresses would be proud of. Although she is not an extremely busy actress, Lori’s body of work spans through movies and TV shows, some of which have earned her award recognition. She has also earned acknowledgement for her other works, spending time as a model before deciding to take up acting full-time.
A Look at Lori Singer’s Best Roles
Granted, Footloose is one of her most acclaimed works but before the project, Lori was already in a good place in the entertainment industry. Likewise, after her breakthrough, she continued on her performance streak.
Before She Starred in Footloose
After she was done with Julliard, Lori Singer worked as a model under Elite Modeling Agency for a spell until inspired by her brother Marc, she decided to shift her focus to an acting career. Her debut in television was in ’82 when she was cast as shy high school girl Julie Miller in NBC’s Fame. A dancer and cellist, Miller was written specifically for Singer’s talents and appeared on two seasons of the show. Even though the series only ran for a year, with Singer appearing in 38 episodes, it was enough to give her a head start in her acting career.
Through Fame, she got into a band with other cast members and performed a recorded live concert as The Kids from “Fame” at Royal Albert Hall. She got her next TV appearance as model Jodi Belcher in the ’83 television film, Born Beautiful, which earned her a Silver Halo Award. But her big break came the following year after she was cast in Footloose.
Lori’s Box Office Success With Footloose
Footloose is a musical drama film starring Lori Singer, Kevin Bacon, Dianne Wiest, and John Lithgow. The film follows the story of teenager Ren McCormack (played by Bacon) who moves from Chicago to a small town where dancing is banned by its minister Rev. Shaw Moore. With help from his friends, including the reverend’s daughter Ariel (played by Singer), Ren tries to overthrow the ban on dancing.
American singer-songwriter Madonna auditioned for the role of Ariel, and several other people (including Michelle Pfeiffer and Lori Loughlin) were considered for the role, but Singer ended up nabbing it. Footloose was a box office success, with Singer getting awarded the ShoWest Breakthrough Performer of the Year Award in ’84 for her part.
Career Life After Footloose
The year ’85 saw Lori Singer land three movie roles. She appeared as supporting character Lana in the spy drama The Falcon and the Snowman, which also stars Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton. She also appeared as the CIA operative Maddy in The Man with One Red Shoe, which also stars Tom Hanks, Dabney Coleman, Carrie Fisher, and Charles Durning. In December of ’85, Singer was in the neo-noir film Trouble in Mind with Kris Kristofferson, Genevieve Bujold, and Keith Carradine. For her role as Georgia in the movie, Singer was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.
Lori Singer got her next leading role in another neo-noir film, this time starring Peter Weller and Stacy Keach. Directed by Kevin Connor, Sunset Grill cast Lori as Loren, the assistant of a wealthy oil executive and philanthropist. This was followed by F.T.W, a romantic drama about an ex-con rodeo rider who gets involved with a bank robber on the run. The movie also stars Brion James and Mickey Rourke.
She was also in the comedy-drama Short Cuts, and her outstanding performance earned her a Golden Globe Award. Other cast members include Julianne Moore, Robert Downey Jr., Andie MacDowell, Annie Ross, Huey Lewis, and several others. The movie was a critical success and won several awards, including a Golden Globe, three Independent Spirit Awards, and four Venice Film Festival Awards.
Over the course of her career, Lori Singer has won the Golden Globes, The Television Academy Honors, and an award from the Venice Film Festival.
Here is the Actress’ Financial Standing
Lori Singer hasn’t had to rely on just her acting career to grow her net worth. Besides being an actress and former model, Singer is also a cellist. Playing right from when she was a child, she got her first soloist debut with the Oregon Symphony when she was thirteen. With her violin skills, she was able to enter the Julliard School at fourteen, becoming the youngest graduate of the school.
In the early 2000s, Lori Singer focused more on her soloist career, performing at several venues, including the Carnegie Hall in 2008. She is also a producer and was executive producer for the documentaries Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God and God Knows Where I Am. All these talents combined have been able to give Singer a very comfortable net worth of $500k, with her annual salary as a cellist estimated at $15k.
What Has Lori Singer Been Up To?
After her last appearance in the short film Little Victim in 2005, the cellist went on to put more focus on her music and producing careers. By 2012, she executive-produced Mea Maxima Culpa but then did a huge turnaround by appearing in an acting role in 2015. The film was Experimenter: The Stanley Milgram Story, a biographical drama movie that stars Peter Sarsgaard, Winona Ryder, Kellan Lutz, John Leguizamo, Lori Singer, and others.
“God knows where I Am” on PBS this month!
Thank you to Joan, Caitlin and Linda Bishop’s
entire family and friends who helped bring to light Linda’s story and the need for change in our mental health care system.— Lori Singer (@Lori_Singer) October 23, 2018
After her appearance on Experimenter, Singer went back to producing and executive-produced God Knows Where I Am in 2017, also serving as the documentary’s narrator. From there, it seemed the actress went off the map. Lori Singer is not very active on social media, using her pages to mostly promote her works rather than share information about her personal life. If there’s one thing the cellist can do well, it’s keeping her personal life out of the spotlight. There’s no word on where she lives, but wherever it is, Lori is probably living with her son Jacques Rio, whom she gave birth to in 1991.
