Throughout her career, Irene's acting and music have often overlapped. She's had an opportunity to meet and work with some of entertainments greatest pioneers and icons as well as her own personal heros. Here we have included photos, some from Irene's own personal scrapbook, that highlight her incredible journey. The story of Irene's Trials and Tribulations in the music business have been featured in a book by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jeff Guinn and Douglas Perry called The 16th Minute.

Irene In the Studio

From Left to Right

  • Joyce Kennedy (Mother's Finest)
  • Wanda Vaughan (The Emotions),
  • Bonnie Raitt
  • Carole King
  • Irene Cara
  • Charloe Crossley (The Harlettes)
  • Syritta Wright (songwriter)
Irene backstage with Ray Charles when she opened for him at Carnegie Hall.
Irene had fun working with Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood on City Heat
This promotional shot from Roots - The Next Generation shows a much more serious Stan Shaw than the one that Irene enjoyed working with and getting to know during filming.
Working on Roots - The Next Generation also gave Irene the opportunity to work with acting legend, Henry Fonda as seen in this photo from her personal collection.
Here, a very young Irene performs in a touring production of The Wiz.

In October 2005, Irene was honored at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival along with legendary Director Arthur Penn, Producer Tom Pollock, and Director Michael Moore.

Here she is with news anchor Lonnie Quinn who interviewed her for South Florida Today regarding this honor.

A great honor for Irene was to portray Myrlie Evers (seated below) in For Us The Living: The Medger Evers Story along side the great Howard Rollins (as Medger Evers).

For Irene, the opportunity to meet such pioneers throughout her career has continued to inspire her in all aspects of her work.

Irene co-starred with
Richard Roundtree in
"City Heat" playing
his girlfriend. Always
the classic ingenue
and ageless beauty,
she would be cast
as his daughter a decade later in an Aaron Spelling
TV pilot.
Irene has appeared on dozens of magazine covers both as an individual artist, below left and with fellow cast mates like in this cover, below right, with Diahann Carroll and Rosalind Cash from Sister, Sister, the award winning TV Movie written by Maya Angelou.
1985's Certain Fury matched Irene up with Tatum O'Neal and directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, father of Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Although Irene has won an Oscar for Best Original Song (Flashdance.What a Feeling) this night she performed to a video montage featuring wonderful films that surprisingly did not win Best Picture.
Irene's scrap book is filled with photos from the making of Sparkle.
The opportunity to work with the Legendary Mary Alice was quite and amazing experience for young Irene.
In his directorial debut, Sam O'Steen was a "truly wonderful man." Known throughout the industry for his work as an Editor, winning Oscars for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Chinatown and Silkwood, Sparkle was the only feature length, theatrical film that he directed in his storied career.

There's even more!

Click Here for more photos from Irene's private scrapbook.