Born in Manhattan and raised in Los Angeles, Stephanie grew up
swimming, riding, playing tennis, dancing, diving, clowning around,
doing chores, and living the normal life of a tomboy in the great
expanse of the San Fernando Valley. As a very young amateur theatrical
entrepreneur, she produced, wrote, and directed pieces in her little
bedroom hallway, in the stable, and on neighbors' fireplace hearths,
earning her the title, "the boss".
But Stephanie's abiding love of theater was kindled at Brown Ledge Camp
in Mallett's Bay, Vermont, where she acted, sang, and was nurtured in
theater craft for six summers. Friends she made there count among her
friends today.
Eager to get on with it, she created her own independent project in her
senior year at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia: she returned to
Los Angeles to study acting, movement, voice, tap and ballet. After
graduating cum laude from high school, Stephanie's ambitions led her to
choose a professional drama school over university, and she spent a
challenging time in New York "getting a dose of it".
Returning to Los Angeles once again, she worked for her brother and
sister-in-law's company, "Correia Art Glass", while she made the
audition rounds. In time, she gave up packing glass to star in
television movies, among them the Emmy Award-winning
Letzte Weihnacht (1977),
Colorado Saga (1978),
Goldene Träume (1980)
and
Das Zukunftsbaby (1982),
along with the occasional guest series role. After several such
projects and two feature films -
Unsere Lassie (1978),
with James Stewart, and
Das Erwachen der Sphinx (1980), with
Charlton Heston - Stephanie was offered
the role of "Laura Holt" in the MTM series,
Remington Steele (1982),
which she played for five years with
Pierce Brosnan and
Doris Roberts on NBC. She appeared as
Caroline? (1990) for Hallmark
on CBS, which won three Emmys and earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
Subsequently, Stephanie starred in
The Story Lady (1991)
with Jessica Tandy,
Blutsbande - Eine Familie zerbricht (1994)
for CBS with Walter Matthau and
Harry Morgan, and
Stop the World, I Want to Get Off (1996),
the musical, on A&E, to name a few of her more than thirty television
movie appearances.
Stephanie starred in Lifetime Television's 50th movie,
Prison of Secrets (1997),
followed by an episode of
Ein Hauch von Himmel (1994),
their highest-rated show to that date. She was happy to be back in the
saddle, in Ventura and Ojai, no less, filming an independent movie with
Dennis Hopper called
Prophet's Game - Im Netz des Todes (2000),
followed by
Entwurzelt - Eine Familie am Abgrund (2001) in
Saskatchewan, Malpractice (2001) in
New Orleans, and another
Ein Hauch von Himmel (1994).
More recently, she spent a happy time guesting on
Crossing Jordan: Pathologin mit Profil (2001).
Striving for excellence has always been very important to Stephanie,
partly due to the standards set by her illustrious family. Alma Gluck,
her grandmother, was one of the great sopranos of her day.
Efrem Zimbalist Sr., her beloved
grandfather, was a celebrated violinist, composer, and gifted teacher
and director of the Curtis Institute of Music. Her aunt,
Marcia Davenport, was a brilliant
historical writer and novelist. Her wonderful father,
Efrem Zimbalist Jr., is a
prize-winning Broadway producer
(Gian Carlo Menotti's "The Consul",
"The Medium" and "The Telephone"), gifted composer, and celebrated
actor
(77-Sunset-Strip (1958),
F.B.I. (1965), and many
movies). His stunning "Violin Sonata" has been performed at several
summer concert series. Her brother Efrem ("Skip") and his company,
"Active Interest Media", publish several magazines.
After debuting on stage in the musical "Festival" in 1979 at the Las
Palmas Theater in Los Angeles with
Gregory Harrison and
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Stephanie
appeared as "Miranda" in "The Tempest" with
Anthony Hopkins and
Brent Carver at the Mark Taper Forum. Other
theater includes "The Cherry Orchard" at the Long Wharf Theater,
"Summer and Smoke" and "Barbarians" at the Williamstown Theatre
Festival, and the national tour of "My One And Only" with
Tommy Tune. In 1989, she initiated a play to
be written for her and Linda Purl, and
directed by Jenny Sullivan - "The
Baby Dance" by Jane Anderson -
which they produced and starred in at the Pasadena Playhouse. The
production moved to Williamstown and Long Wharf, and culminated in a
critically-acclaimed run at the
Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City.
She played "Polly Peacham" in "The Threepenny Opera" with
Betty Buckley at Williamstown, and
had a wonderful time with "Tracy Lord" in "The Philadelphia Story" at
the Cleveland PlayHouse. In 1994, Stephanie took on the double roles of
an Irish peasant and a New Bedford fisherman's wife in the original
production of "The Crimson Thread" in Connecticut (which she
co-produced), and the Pasadena Playhouse. A second tread on the L.A.
boards under Jenny Sullivan's
direction was the hilarious, tour de force turn as a nail-spitting
media barracuda in the West Coast premiere of "AdWars" with the
wonderful David Dukes (R.I.P.).
At
L.A.'s Coronet Theater for many months, Stephanie kicked up a lot of sand as the lovable dog in A.R. Gurney's
"Sylvia". In 1998, she starred in the world premiere of
Jane Martin's "Mr. Bundy" at the
Humana Festival of Actors Theatre of Louisville, and happily played
opposite Lucie Arnaz in "Wonderful Town" for
the Reprise! series in L.A. Stephanie was thrilled to be reunited with
her dear "Baby Dance" friends,
John Bennett Perry and
Jenny Sullivan for the Rubicon
Theatre's award-winning, double run of "The Rainmaker". A dream came
true, tackling the towering role of "Terry" in
Warren Leight's knockout "Side
Man" at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, followed by a tour of
"Accomplice" on the east coast (after a month's holiday in London, St.
Petersberg, Moscow, Rostov [birthplace of her grandfather,
Efrem Zimbalist Sr.], Istanbul,
Athens, and sailing the Dodecanes!). For several springs now, Stephanie
has opened the Tennessee Williams New
Orleans Literary Festival with a reading of one of his plays at their
Gala event - she's happily shared those boards with
Alec Baldwin,
Elizabeth Ashley,
John Goodman,
Patricia Neal,
Linda Hart, and the charming
Rex Reed. Having worked in New Orleans with the
Festival and in Malpractice (2001)
and made friends in Nola, the recent tragedies there hit especially
hard.
Stephanie had another dream come true, to play "Varya" in "The Cherry
Orchard", with the added thrill of playing opposite one of her acting
heroes, the amazing and delightful
Alfred Molina. Recently, she played
"Ursula" in Nicholas Wright's
wonderful play, "Vincent in Brixton", at the Pasadena Playhouse. Also
at the Rubicon Theatre, she's played in
Brian Friel's "Dancing at Lughnasa",
Jane Anderson's "Defying
Gravity", and trod the boards with her father,
Efrem Zimbalist Jr., for the first
time, in Tennessee Williams's "The
Night of the Iguana".
