Tami Stronach


Tami Stronach is an actor, dancer, and professor.

Personal life

Tami Stronach was born in summer 1972 in Iran. Her parents were the archaeologists David Stronach from Scotland and Ruth Stronach from Israel. After fleeing the Iranian Revolution, Stronach, her sister Keren, and their parents moved to California in 1981 to allow David to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. By late 2014, Stronach and her three-year-old daughter Maya lived in Brooklyn; Stronach was married to Greg Steinbruner as of mid-2020.

Career

In addition to her artistic projects, Stronach also followed in her father's footsteps, becoming a professor in New York City.

Acting

While Stronach was a child actor portraying Piglet in a San Francisco stage adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh, she was approached by the casting director for The NeverEnding Story and asked to audition for the role of the Childlike Empress. After three auditions, Stronach beat Heather O'Rourke to star in the 1984 film; it has been her only major motion picture. Ruth Stronach declined a sequel contract for her daughter, worried about lacking the werewithal to "help her daughter navigate the turbulent waters of childhood stardom in the film industry." After NeverEnding Story became a sensational success, the Stronachs were beseiged with unwanted attention: their home and telephone were stalked, adults proposed to the eleven-year-old with engagement rings, and she received "offers from Hollywood to play roles featuring scenes completely inappropriate for someone her age."
Stronach returned to acting in 2002 with a physical theatre company, and by 2006 had performed in Chambre at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and was continuing to study acting with Laura Esterman. By the 2010s, Stronach had co-founded a theatre company called Shoehorn Theater; in 2012, they began creating a new play, Light: A Dark Comedy In July 2020, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Stronach had been cast to star in Man & Witch alongside Sean Astin, Rhea Perlman, Christopher Lloyd, and Michael Emerson.

Dancing

Switching her focus from acting to professional dancing after The NeverEnding Story, Stronach devoted herself to that study for ten years in New York City. In 1996, Stronach began dancing with Neta Pulvermacher and Dancers, though she has also exhibited her own productions at Dixon Place, Washington Square Park, and the Galápagos Islands.

Performance credits