Everything We Know About Fame Star Irene Cara's Last Days ·
Emma Payne
Published Jan 03, 2026
Irene Escalara was born in 1959 in the Bronx, according to The New York Times, although she tried valiantly to obscure her age on more than one occasion. By the age of 5, she had reportedly learned to play the piano by ear, and by her tweens she was a "busy performer," as the Times describes it. By the age of 13, she'd landed a role on "The Electric Company," and would spend the next several years building up her acting and singing profiles.
Her big break came in 1980 when she scored the role of Coco Hernandez in the groundbreaking musical "Fame." However, in 1985 she sued Al Coury, the head of the label Network Records, alleging that the label had cheated her out of royalties. The lawsuit effectively ended her career; rightly or wrongly, she was labeled "difficult to work with," and that shut down her options almost immediately.
"All of a sudden, I was hearing stories about how difficult I was to work with, ridiculous rumors about drugs and what a diva I was. It was blown out of proportion," she said. She also reportedly had difficulty with cocaine during this period, although she says that she "never had to go to rehab or a program," via People.
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