Tamara Braun Tidbits

by Snowdrops and Iris

• She was born on April 18 in Evanston, Illinois.

• Tamara’s name in Hebrew means “Palm Tree.”

• In high school, Tamara played the school's mascot, Willie the Wildkat!

• Tamara worked as a babysitter from age 12.

• As a child, Tamara wanted to be a magician.

• Tamara learned how to ride a mechanical bull in her childhood!

• She loved Dr. Seuss books while growing up, "because the rhymes made reading so much easier".

• Tamara has a number of siblings: an older brother, two half sisters, one half brother, a stepsister and two stepbrothers.

• Tamara calls her grandfather "Opa", which is German for "grandfather".

• Tamara took dance lessons on and off through her childhood, and loves to dance.

• Tamara played the piano and loved it...until she went to lessons, and then she hated it!

• She studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts in London.

• Tamara is a licensed Massage Technician.

• Tamara majored in Psychology in college, with a minor in drama and theater.

• Her parents are both involved in the psychology field… one as a psychiatrist and the other as a psychotherapist.

• She used to design crystal tattoos for kids!

• Tamara's first acting job was a training video for a chain of childrens' learning centers called The Discovery Zone.

• During the time the Ally McBeal TV show aired, Tamara found that on auditions people always told her she reminded them of star Calista Flockhart!

• Her first air date as Carly Corinthos was May 2, 2001.

• Her last air date as Carly Corinthos was April 15, 2005.

• During her 4 years on GH, Tamara never once used all her vacation time. The longest she ever took off was a Thursday, Friday and a Monday!

• Tamara auditioned for Carly in her natural brunette hair color. She colored her hair blonde for the first 3 years of the show before finally getting TPTB's approval to go back to her true brunette color for her last year as "Carly".

• She was given extensive background information about Carly thanks to Elizabeth Korte, GH writer.

• Tamara didn’t know she was testing for or cast as Carly until 1½ weeks before starting the role. Tamara thought she was auditioning for Sarah Webber because of the name on the audition script.

• She had 23 pages of dialogue and 12 hours on the set her first day.

• Tamara's first scenes as Carly were with A Martinez (ex-Roy) and Maurice Benard (Sonny).

• Tamara's most memorable GH moment: working with the late Gloria Stuart.

• One of Tamara’s favorite apparel accessories is a brown South African agate necklace. She feels grounded when she wears it.

• For the 2003 Daytime Emmys, Tamara wore a white Lloyd Klein dress, with white topaz jewelry from Talisman Unlimited.

• For the 2004 Daytime Emmys, Tamara chose an elegant egg-plant colored dress designed by Roberto Cavalli.

• Tamara was a presenter at the 2004 Daytime Techical/Creative Emmys, wearing a gorgeous black dress by Sterling Capricio.

• As Carly, Tamara's enjoyed wearing clothing designed by Tahari, D&G, Armani and Trina Trunk.

• Tamara loves fashion. She doesn't consider herself "a girlie-girl", but loves feminine things. Her fashion advice? "Don't ever sacrifice comfort and feeling good about yourself for some fashion trend. Then the clothes wear you."

• Among the films Tamara has enjoyed: Divine Secrets Of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, Ray, Finding Neverland, and A Very Long Engagement.

• Among her favorite actors: Susan Sarandon, Morgan Freeman, Sir Ben Kingsley and the late Vivien Leigh.

• When asked what now-deceased person she'd have loved to meet, Tamara chose the late Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier.

• She highly recommends author Fern Schumer Chapman's "Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust: A Daughter's Journey to Reclaim The Past".

• Tamara doesn’t eat meat, poultry, or dairy.

• She would play Joan of Arc if she had an opportunity to play a historic figure because of Joan’s passion, drive, and intensity along with her devotion to the causes she believed in.

• Tamara’s skin care routine includes Liquid Neutrogena, Ti-Silc face cream, and Origins Eye Cream.

• She performed in her cousin, Susan Prinz Shear’s play “No Way Out” in Boulder, Colorado (November, 2003). Tamara performed the role of her Great Aunt who struggled to leave Nazi Germany but ultimately died at the hands of the Nazi’s during the Holocaust. The play used the actual words from 60 family letters that told their very personal story of hope and despair. Tamara’s grandfather survived the Holocaust and helped translate over 500 family letters that described Tamara’s family’s plight, struggles, and journeys.

• Tamara is allergic to dogs.

• Tamara enjoys the music of India Irie, particularly her Acoustic Soul CD.

• She enjoys walking. Tamara lives on a lake, and tries to walk around it every day.

• Tamara goes to the park to get calm, get reflective, and "hear [herself]".

• Tamara loves independent films, and has attended the Sundance Independent Film Festival with best friend, Alicia Leigh Willis.

• Tamara would like to do a romantic comedy, and hopes to work in a variety of mediums from film to prime time TV to stage.