Colleen Camp

Colleen Celeste Camp (born June 7, 1953) is an American character actress and producer. After appearing in several bit parts, she had a lead role in the comedy The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974), followed by roles in two installments of the Police Academy series. Camp had supporting roles in Lady of the House (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979), and The Seduction (1982), after which she played Julie’s mother in Valley Girl and Yvette the Maid in the 1985 comedy Clue. Camp has continued to have minor and supporting roles in various independent and studio films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Election (1999), Factory Girl (2006), Palo Alto (2013), American Hustle (2013), and The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018). Early life Colleen Camp was born in San Francisco, California. She has two brothers, Don and Glen. She moved to the San Fernando Valley at a young age and attended John H. Francis Polytechnic High School, Los Angeles Valley College, and California State University, Northridge, where she majored in English and minored in theater arts. Career To help pay for college, Camp trained macaws at Busch Gardens on weeknights, weekends, and then during summers performing for crowds of up to 2,000 in six shows a day, six days a week. Aspiring to be an actress, Camp took private acting and singing lessons. She was noticed by a talent agent for her hour-long Busch Gardens television special featuring her and her birds, and hired for national-television commercials for Gallo wine and Touch of Sweden hand lotion. This exposure led to small television parts in shows such as Marcus Welby, M.D., Happy Days, and Love, American Style, as well as a six-episode stint on the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man.