Mini Biography
A petite dynamo with a power-driven voice and sunbeam personality, soulful singer and actress Renn (or Ren) Woods was born in Portland, Oregon in 1958. She began treating audiences to her extraordinary musical gift at the age of six. The singing prodigy's first major appearance was at age 10 when she sang on NBC's "Soul Special" in 1968. Before she had even reached her teens she and two girlfriends had promptly placed themselves in the thick of things as members of the Jackson 5-influenced singing trio Sunday's Child (formerly known as Soul Fire with two additional members) that recorded briefly with Reprise Records. Although the group disbanded quickly, Renn's talent was not to be denied, venturing solo and appearing alongside such top celebrities as Jack Benny, Bing Crosby and, notably, Bob Hope during his worldwide tours that included Vietnam, and on his TV Christmas specials.
After a couple of starter roles in the movies Sparkle (1976) and Car Wash (1976), Renn zoomed to major attention when she won the cherished role of Kunta Kinte's African friend, Fanta, in the critically-acclaimed TV mini-series "Roots" (1977) (mini) and became a regular on the one-season series "We've Got Each Other" (1977). Earning appearances on Johnny Carson's late night show, her singing talent only added to the clamor she was receiving at the time as an actress, which was exemplified on film when she delivered the flower-child solo spot during the "Aquarius" sequence in the counterculture movie musical Hair (1979).
She following equally tiny powerhouse Stephanie Mills as Dorothy in the first national Broadway tour of "The Wiz" and made the role her own. On TV she made the usual rounds with guest parts on "The Jeffersons", "What's Happening!", "Hill Street Blues", "Gabriel's Fire", "Lou Grant" and "NYPD Blue". She typically lost some ground after such a firecracker start when recording contracts with ARC Electra proved disappointing.
On the film front she has sporadically appeared over the years in The Jerk (1979), Nine to Five (1980), Penitentiary II (1982), The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), Crazy World (1996) and the upcoming The Blue Hour (2007), as well as recurring roles on such popular TV programs as "Beauty and the Beast" (1987).
To date Renn has persisted and stayed true to her own musical roots with strong roles over the years in "Big River", "Spunk" and the 2004 Los Angeles production of "Caroline, Or Change". Renn's own musical "Neither Will Be Bought, Nor Sold" has garnered her renewed attention as a budding playwright. The Kennedy Center recently chose Renn's play as one of 18 plays to be developed in the oncoming year (2007). Autobiographical one-woman concert appearances in "A Diva Like Me" and "An Empress Like Renn" have also been favorably received.
Mini Biography By:
Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net