Gina Grier-Townsie: Who is Pam Grier’s sister?

Gina Grier-Townsie is an American actress and also the sister of Pam Grier. Gina Grier-Townsie’s sister has gained a much bigger reputation in the industry. She is known for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitation, and women in prison films for American International Pictures and New World Pictures.

Gina Grier-Townsie: Bio Summary

According to her IMDB profile, Gina Grier-Townsie is known for Intimate Portrait. Her sister on the other hand has made appearances in hundreds of movies. Pam Grier came to prominence with her titular roles in the films Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974); her other major films during this period included The Big Doll House (1971), Women in Cages (1971), The Big Bird Cage (1972), and Black Mama, White Mama (1973) just to mention a few.

ALSO, READ; Clarence Ransom Grier, Jr.: What happened to Pam Grier’s father?

She portrayed the title character in Tarantino’s crime film Jackie Brown (1997) and also appeared in Escape from L.A. (1996) and recently Poms (2019). Because of her incredible performances, IndieWire named Gina’s sister Pam one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. While Pam was born on May 26, 1949, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, not much is known about the date of birth and hence the age of Gina Grier-Townsie.

The Biological sisters were born to their mother Gwendolyn Sylvia Grier(née Samuels), a homemaker who saw herself through school to become a nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier, Jr., who worked as a mechanic and technical sergeant in the United States Air Force. Aside from Pam, Gina also has a brother whose name is Rodney Grier.

ALSO, READ; Gwendolyn Grier: What happened to Pam Grier’s mother?

Gina Grier-Townsie and her siblings have mixed ancestry, namely African American, Hispanic, Chinese, Filipino, and Cheyenne heritage. She and her siblings were raised Catholics but Pam was later baptized as a Methodist. Because of her father’s military career, the family moved frequently during Grier’s childhood.

Pam in particular enjoyed the moves. “Each trip was an adventure, with new friends, new food, new culture”- She told WSJ in an interview. The Grier siblings also spent part of her upbringing on her maternal grandparents’ sugar beet farm in rural Wyoming, where their ancestors had homesteaded after fleeing west via the Underground Railroad to escape slavery.

Pam and Gina are the co-founders of a company that designs paper products and specialty items called Melting Pot Designs. The two sisters see their company Melting pot design as a business with a mission in an era that has seen school art programs slashed and painters returning to their full-time jobs. Their business venture is designed to give exposure to designers and their works.

ALSO, READ; Rodney Grier: Who Is Pam Grier’s Brother?

“The most incredible gratification I’ve had so far is one of the artists saying, ‘Because of you, we’ve been able to pay our rent this year,” Garier-Towrisie; said about their company. Melting Pot Designs began with a wake-up phone call from Gina while Pam was on location in England. Grier-Townsie had time to think. She was home on bed rest with twins. Grier-Townsie had to tell her bleary-eyed sister the news. Their joint venture would be a retailer for artists of all ethnicities and an accessible forum to sell their work. Their company keeps holding semi-regular gallery shows in Denver.