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Tamara Articles

*All these articles are courtesy of Elizabeth. Thank you sooooo much!!! MWAH!!!*

From www.therez.com (no longer existant)

LUCY: TAMARA PODEMSKI

"Lucy fancies herself an outsider and she has big dreams that lie far away from the rez. In order for her to be grounded, she must discover the power and strength that lies in the people around her and in the community in which she lives."

Tamara Podemski is truly an actor whose star is rising. She is a multi-talented force to be reckoned with, having starred in the previous season of THE REZ, and the feature Dance Me Outside. This year she is back as Lucy, the young woman whose sights are firmly set on a Broadway singing career.

Podemski, a graduate of the Claude Watson School for the Performing Arts, was also a recurring character in Ready or Not, starred in Bluehawk, and appeared in Triggered (Canadian Film Centre) and on both the 1995 and 1996 Aboriginal Achievement Awards (CBC) as a featured performer. She has also appeared on the Native Earth Performing Arts stage in The Baby Blues and Wesageechak IX: Ren Wine.

Tamara has performed as a singer for Nelson Mandella and Coretta Scott King as a member of the Inner City Gospel Chorus as well as singing at the United Nations in New York with Raffi and the Wayne St. John Choir.

Also from www.therez.com (no longer existant). Some behind-the-scenes stuff

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
After reading the episode entitled WINDIGO, in which Silas and Frank encounter a malevolent Native Spirt, Jennifer Podemski was so spooked that she refused to sleep alone and had to spend the night in her sister Tamara's room.

SING TO ME
While they are most well-known for their acting talents, the true calling of the cast of THE REZ may well be as karaoke artists, as evidenced by their show-stopping performances at the weekly karaoke night at Parry Sound's Brunswick Hotel.

FORE!
Golf became a favorite pastime for the cast and crew of THE REZ in the rolling hills of Parry Sound, where the series is filmed. Herbie Barns proved to be the most gifted golfer of the bunch, as he sizzled to a third place finish in the first REZ Invitational Golf Tounament, just behind Chief Howard Pajewon and his wife who took 1st and 2nd place respectively. The play of the rest of the cast can best be described as, well, less distinguished.

Tamara's Bio from the Canadian RENT Program

TAMARA PODEMSKI (ENSEMBLE)
Tamara Ceshia Podemski is living out her wildest dreams with her musical debut in Rent. From Ojibway/Israeli parents, Tamara was born and raised in Toronto and graduated from the Claude Watson School for the Arts where she majored in dance for 10 years. Her theatre credits include "The Baby Blues" for Native Earth Performing Arts and the Aboriginal Dance Project for The Baniff Centre; television includes CBC's "The Rez", Global's "Ready or Not" and the German series "Blue Hawk"; film includes Bruce MacDonald's Dance Me Outside and the Canadian Film Centre's Triggered. Tamara sends her love to the greatest support team of family and friends in the world. Thank you, Jonathan Larson.

This is from the Toronto Star, March 8, 1998

RENT SUBLET: Talk about a receptive audience!

     When Tamara Podemski (The Rez) went on stage Wednesday night to replace Jenifer Aubry in the role of Maureen, her family was cheering her on. Her Mom Joanna had flown in from B.C. for the occasion. Her sisters Jennifer and Sarah were there also. Podemski, who understudies the role of Maureen and plays Mrs. Cohen, was a big hit.

This is from the Toronto Mirror, sometime in July 1998

Local actress lands role in Broadway's RENT
By ADAM BELLO
special to the Mirror

     A Downsview actress is heading for the bright lights of Broadway. Tamara Podemski, 20, is leaving the Toronto cast of Rent for the New York production of the rock musical. Podemski accepted the offer with mixed emotions.
     "My agent got the call from the New York producers of Rent, and we (her family) became hysterical with excitement when they asked me to come to Broadway," she says. "It's a dream come true but it means leaving behind this cast that I have worked with since day one. I thought I would finish with it through to the end (of the Toronto run)."
     One of the first to be cast in the stage production at the Royal Alexandria Theatre when it debuted last fall, Podemski will be reprising her Toronto role of Mrs. Cohen, the comedic Jewish mother, as well as understudy for the Rent lead of Maureen, the flighty, aspiring actress she has played on occasion.
     A graduate from the Claude Watson School for the Performing Arts in North York, Podemski has worked in various Canadian media, including the criticly acclaimed 1993 film Dance Me Outside, and more recently on network television as Lucy in the now concluded CBC comedy drama series The Rez. Podemski says her departure from the Canadian performance scene will not be a permanent one.
     "North York is my home, and I prefer the humility of the Canadian performing arts industry" she said. "No matter how far away I go, I will always come back here."

From the Canadian Jewish News, July 16, 1998

Toronto Actress Broadway Bound

Toronto actress Tamara Podemski, who has been playing the part of Mrs. Cohen in the Toronto production of Rent for the past 32 weeks, has signed a contract to play that part in the original production of Rent which has been playing at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway for 2 1/2 years.

Podemski the 20-year old child of a Jewish father and a native Indian mother, left last week for New York, where her contract commits her to stay at least one year. Among her other roles, she appeared in The Rez, a 13-part television series produced by the CBC. Although the CBC did not renew the series it was recently picked up for airing in Isreal.

In conversation with the CJN, Saul Podemski said his daughter was thrilled to be heading for Broadway. "It's quite a rush for her because it really is her dream come true," he said. "This is her big break."

From the Toronto Star after Tamara left the Canadian company of RENT, July 16, 1998

SHE SPENT THE RENT HERE BUT THERE'S ALWAYS TAMARA
By Rita Zekas

     Play misty eyed for me. Last Tuesday was TAMARA PODEMSKI'S last Rent day. Next a.m., she was Broadway bound to reprise her role as Mrs. Cohen and to Understudy the role of Maureen. And they were giving her a big and teary send-off at The Red Devil BBQ & Tavern on Duncan St., right around the corner from Rent's home base, the Royal Alex.
     There were no vacancies. The place was packed. Some of Podemski's former castmates from The Rez were on hand, including Ryan Black, in his newly shorn hair; her sister Jennifer; and Tamara's fellah, Darrell Dennis.
     And just so she wouldn't forget where she was coming from, her father presented her with the official Roots Olympic hat, worn by everyone from snowborder Ross Rebagliati to Prince Charles to Prince Mel.
     "I'm not ever being mistaken for an American," she vowed.
     Yeah, well, they've opened up a Roots store in N.Y.C.
     Chad Richardson (who plays Mark) came up and gave her a big hug. Everyone was giving her big hugs. Vigorous big hugs. These people are performers. They do everything over the top. Podemski will undoubtedly go home dented.
     Her sister kept tearing up. Tamara admitted to feeling verklempt herself. She thought she was going to make it through the performance without getting choked up. She was okay until she saw the sign.
     "Some Rentheads had brought a banner and held it up. It said, 'Goodbye Tamara, we'll miss you.' Then things started to get sad."
     And soggy.
     Podemski was scheduled to be at New York rehersal the next day at 1 p.m., and would go on for the first time on Friday. And she'll see at least one familiar face. Luther Creek, who played Roger in Toronto, went back to New York to reprise his role in the Broadway production.
     She insists that she's not New York savvy.
     "I've only been to New York on a weekend, I just went to Broadwy to see a show."
     You think?
     She is staying with a friend while looking for an apartment. In person.
     "I don't trust those 'large and clean' ads."
     Podemski was taken aback when she got the siren call for New York.
     "It was my dream come true, the most shocking thing in my life. I had a near heart attack. My agent called up and said that the New York producer offered me my role on Broadway. I thought it was the worst joke ever. It was so far fetched."
     Especially since Rent is her first singing gig. Nine months ago, she was hired on as a Rental. Seven months ago, she was mugging with a cigar during a Snappy Patter photo op at Rent's opening night party.
     Now she's on Broadway.
     "It's absolutly impossible," she marvelled. "I've never had a singing job, nobody ever gave me a second glance about singing. I was content making a nice home here in the film and TV industry-the musical world was never something I could hope to aspire to."
     Still she studied voice.
     "I studied everything. Now I can go back to those people who said I couldn't carry a tune..."
     She's carrying it all the way to New York.
     And she's not exactly going empty handed. She's taking her sister, "who will try to do what she does here."
     And her beau, Darrell Dennis. Who will presumably do what he does for her here.

**This is Tamara's older sister Jennifer's Bio from a play she did in Toronto around October of 1998 called "Red River," but Tamara is mentioned at the end, so we decided to include it here**

JENNIFER PODEMSKI: MARIE

Jennifer Podemski is half Ojibway and Israeli. Her credits include Conspiracy of Silence, Short For Nothing, Fish Tail Soup and Animorphs, but is best know for her role as Sadie in Bruce MacDonald's 1994 film Dance Me Outside. She continued her role as Sadie in the CBC television series The Rez garnering a Gemini nomination for Best Performance by a Female in a Leading role in 1996. In 1992 Jennifer was nominated for a Blizzard Award for her portrayal of Pique in the Diviners. This year, she is the recipitant of numerous awards: the American Indian Film Festival Award and the Dreamspeaker Award for Best Actress on a Dramatic Series; and recently, the Summer Institute of Film and Television honoured and presented her with an award for Best Actress. Upcoming projects include, Mind Prey (appearing this winter on ABC), and Dear America (appearing on HBO this fall). Jennifer dedicated every perfomance to her ancestors, and her two sisters, Sarah who is studying in Isreal, and Tamara who is New York.

**We're sure that "Tamara who IS New York" is a misprint (i.e. it should say "Tamara who is IN New York") but we think its cute so we left it in**

From the Toronto Star, Nov. 15, 1998

RENT RAISED: Congrats to Tamara Podemski (The Rez), who has just been promoted from playing Mrs. Cohen in RENT on Broadway to Maureen, one of the leads. Podemski will take over as Maureen on Dec. 8 and continue until the millenium.

Do you have any Tamara articles that we don't? If so, e-mail Ava or ~Rachel~