Karen Fraction
Encyclopedia
Karen Fraction was an American
actress, dancer, and model
from Flint, Michigan
. She is probably best remembered as Dr. Perry, the Chief Medical Officer
in seaQuest 2032, and Jennifer Parker, one of the main characters in My Brother and Me
.
year at Adelphi University
, where she earned a Bachelor Degree in Communication arts
in 1980, she was cast in a touring production of The Wiz
. This eventually led her to Broadway
, she had her debut in The Tap Dance Kid
starring Hinton Battle
. Other credits include a 1987 revival of Cabaret
, Anything Goes
, the 1991 revival of Oh, Kay!
as well as touring Europe
and Japan
in Bob Fosse
's Dancin'
. She also participated in the famous 1985 concert version of Stephen Sondheim
's Follies
and performed at the famous Radio City Music Hall
.
"If you can work on projects you believe in, have fun with and touch people's lives, that's success," the actress told "The Flint Journal" in 1994 after landing a starring role as Jennifer Parker in My Brother and Me
. Although the show only lasted the 1994/1995 season it brought her enough attention that she was cast as Dr. Perry on seaQuest 2032 replacing Rosalind Allen
, although due to the shows shift to a more military tone her part was a recurring character instead of a main character.
She has also appeared in commercials and magazine ads dating back to the Eighties including AT&T
, K-Mart, Febreze
and Denny's
, several of which are viewable on her website as well as clips of other TV appearances she has done.
She died on October 30, 2007 following a 5 year battle with breast cancer
. She is survived by her two children, Lauren Elizabeth Jean and Lawrence Wm. Morris, and her husband Lawrence Hamilton.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress, dancer, and model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
from Flint, Michigan
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
. She is probably best remembered as Dr. Perry, the Chief Medical Officer
Chief Medical Officer
There are four Chief Medical Officers in the United Kingdom who are appointed to advise their respective governments on health related matters: Her Majesty's Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government...
in seaQuest 2032, and Jennifer Parker, one of the main characters in My Brother and Me
My Brother and Me
My Brother and Me is a sitcom on Nickelodeon that premiered on October 15, 1994, and ran until February 2, 1995. The show is about a family living in the West Side of Charlotte, North Carolina, who experience the highs and lows of everyday life. Jennifer and Roger Parker have two sons, Alfie and...
.
Biography
During her sophomoreSophomore
Sophomore is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university.The word is also used as a synonym for "second", for the second album or EP released by a musician or group, the second movie of a director, or the second season of a...
year at Adelphi University
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private, nonsectarian university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York, United States. It is the oldest institution of higher education on Long Island. For the sixth year, Adelphi University has been named a “Best Buy” in higher education by the Fiske Guide to...
, where she earned a Bachelor Degree in Communication arts
Communication Arts
Communication Arts is the largest international trade journal of visual communications. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine’s coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration and interactive media. The magazine continues to be edited and...
in 1980, she was cast in a touring production of The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
. This eventually led her to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, she had her debut in The Tap Dance Kid
The Tap Dance Kid
The Tap Dance Kid is a musical based on the novel Nobody's Family is Going to Change by Louise Fitzhugh. It was written by Charles Blackwell with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics by Robert Lorick.-Productions:...
starring Hinton Battle
Hinton Battle
Hinton Battle is an American actor, dancer, and dance instructor. He has won three Tony Awards, all in the category of Featured Actor in a Musical...
. Other credits include a 1987 revival of Cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
, Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...
, the 1991 revival of Oh, Kay!
Oh, Kay!
Oh, Kay! is a musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. It is based on the play La Presidente by Maurice Hanniquin and Pierre Veber. The plot revolves around the adventures of the Duke of Durham and his sister, Lady Kay, English...
as well as touring Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in Bob Fosse
Bob Fosse
Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse was an American actor, dancer, musical theater choreographer, director, screenwriter, film editor and film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction...
's Dancin'
Dancin'
Dancin' is a musical revue first produced in 1978, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, who won a Tony Award for the choreography. The show is a tribute to the art of dance, and the music is a collection of mostly American songs, many with a dance theme from a wide variety of styles, from...
. She also participated in the famous 1985 concert version of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
and performed at the famous Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
.
"If you can work on projects you believe in, have fun with and touch people's lives, that's success," the actress told "The Flint Journal" in 1994 after landing a starring role as Jennifer Parker in My Brother and Me
My Brother and Me
My Brother and Me is a sitcom on Nickelodeon that premiered on October 15, 1994, and ran until February 2, 1995. The show is about a family living in the West Side of Charlotte, North Carolina, who experience the highs and lows of everyday life. Jennifer and Roger Parker have two sons, Alfie and...
. Although the show only lasted the 1994/1995 season it brought her enough attention that she was cast as Dr. Perry on seaQuest 2032 replacing Rosalind Allen
Rosalind Allen
Rosalind Allen is a New Zealand-born actress best known for her portrayal Doctor Wendy Smith on seaQuest DSV's second season.-Early life:...
, although due to the shows shift to a more military tone her part was a recurring character instead of a main character.
She has also appeared in commercials and magazine ads dating back to the Eighties including AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, K-Mart, Febreze
Febreze
Febreze is a brand of household odor eliminator manufactured by Procter & Gamble, sold in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand...
and Denny's
Denny's
Denny's is a full-service coffee shop/family restaurant chain. It operates over 1,500 restaurants in the United States , Canada, Curaçao, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan , Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.Denny's is known for always being...
, several of which are viewable on her website as well as clips of other TV appearances she has done.
She died on October 30, 2007 following a 5 year battle with breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
. She is survived by her two children, Lauren Elizabeth Jean and Lawrence Wm. Morris, and her husband Lawrence Hamilton.
Actress
- SheenaSheena (TV series)Sheena is an American action-adventure/fantasy television series which was produced for first-run syndication from 2000 to 2002.Based upon the comic book character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, which previously spawned a popular 1950s TV series of the same title, the 2000s series updated the...
(TV) (2 episodes) (2001) - TainaTaina (TV series)Taina is an American sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon and was one of the last live-action comedy shows taped at Nickelodeon Studios but later moved to the Nickelodeon On Sunset in Hollywood, for its second season. The show aired from January 14, 2001 to May 11, 2002.-Premise:Taina Morales is a...
(TV) (Pilot) (2001) .... Dance Instructor - Walker, Texas RangerWalker, Texas RangerWalker, Texas Ranger is an American television action crime drama series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis, and starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texas Ranger Division. The show aired on CBS in the spring of 1993, with the first season consisting of three pilot episodes. Eight full...
(TV) (In Harm's Way: Part 2) (1999) .... Judge Millhouse - The First of May (1999) .... Doctor
- PalmettoPalmetto (film)Palmetto is a 1998 neo-noir film directed by Volker Schlöndorff with a screenplay by E. Max Frye. It is based on the novel Just Another Sucker by James Hadley Chase.-Plot summary:...
(1998) .... Plainclothes Cop - seaQuest 2032 (TV) (Recurring Character) (1995–1996) .... Dr. Perry
- Our Son, the MatchmakerOur Son, the MatchmakerOur Son, the Matchmaker is a 1996 made-for-television family film directed by Lorraine Senna, and stars Ann Jillian and David Andrews as a couple who are separated as teenagers when their illegitimate child is born and sent for adoption, but are reunited years later when their by then grown-up son...
(1996) .... Claudia Wade - My Brother and MeMy Brother and MeMy Brother and Me is a sitcom on Nickelodeon that premiered on October 15, 1994, and ran until February 2, 1995. The show is about a family living in the West Side of Charlotte, North Carolina, who experience the highs and lows of everyday life. Jennifer and Roger Parker have two sons, Alfie and...
(TV) (Main Character) (1994) .... Jennifer Parker - Swamp ThingSwamp ThingSwamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...
(TV) (1 episode) (1992) .... Tanda