- Born
- Birth namePamela Jayne Hardon
- Nicknames
- "The Totally Girl" from Halloween
- The Scream Queen
- Height5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
- P.J. (Pamela Jayne) Soles was born on July 17, 1950 in Frankfurt, Germany. Her father came from Holland and her mother from New Jersey. Because her father was working for an international insurance company, the family moved all over the world. P.J. lived in Casablanca, Morocco, and Maracaibo, Venezuela, where she learned to speak fluent Spanish, and then Brussels, Belgium, where she went to high school at the International School of Brussels. When she was at Briarcliff College, she wanted to become the first woman ambassador to the Soviet Union. This career goal changed when she visited the Actors Studio in New York City. She moved to Manhattan and began acting in commercials and modeling for fashion magazines. She was married to J. Stephen Soles during her years in New York, but then made the move to Los Angeles to work in television and movies. At this time, she and Soles' got divorced, but she decided to keep her name as P.J. Soles. She was among the hundreds of actors auditioning for Brian De Palma and George Lucas in their joint casting session for Carrie (1976) and Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). After Carrie, she went to Georgia to film Our Winning Season (1978) and met actor Dennis Quaid. They were married in 1978 in Texas on a dude ranch.
P.J. starred in Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) with Ramones. Next she filmed Private Benjamin (1980) and then Stripes (1981). She and Quaid were divorced in 1983. P.J. continued doing numerous television and film roles, and then married Skip Holm, who was the stunt pilot on The Right Stuff (1983). They have two children and were divorced in 1998. Still active in television and film, P.J. manages not to let her fans down, but keeps them interested in her work, which keeps on getting better, making her one of the most versatile actresses of her time.- IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous
- SpousesSkip Holm(November 16, 1983 - 1998) (divorced, 2 children)Dennis Quaid(November 25, 1978 - August 23, 1983) (divorced)J. Stephen Soles(1971 - 1975) (divorced)
- ChildrenJeffrey Sky HolmAshley Brooke Holm
- ParentsNancy HardonCornelis Johannes Hardon II
- In her death scene in the horror movie Carrie (1976), she is knocked unconscious by a wild water hose; in real life, the hose tore her eardrum.
- Did her screen test for the horror movie Carrie (1976) with John Travolta. He loved her performance so much, he made sure she got a role in his television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976).
- She wore a red baseball cap to her audition for the horror movie Carrie (1976), which director Brian De Palma loved. He told her to bring the cap with her when they started shooting. The first thing he said to her on the set was, "Did you bring your red baseball hat?" She ended up wearing that hat for the majority of the movie.
- John Carpenter wanted her for his horror movie Halloween (1978) after seeing the horror movie Carrie (1976). He wrote the role of Lynda van der Klok especially for her because of the way she said the word "totally".
- P.J. has two children: a son, Jeffrey Sky Holm (born 1983), a 2005 graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and is an Officer serving with the United States Coast Guard; and a daughter, Ashley Brooke Holm (born 1988), a 2010 graduate of U.C. Irvine with a degree in English/Creative Writing, is teaching yoga and in the band Jo Nash with composer John Corlis.
- "Dennis is very, very sad. I've never heard him sound so sad. I got the feeling he hasn't slept recently. He's devastated just by the thought of any separation mostly because they have a son. He's very concerned about the effects on his son." - about the separation of Dennis Quaid from Meg Ryan.
- I'm still looking for that Quentin Tarantino, for what he did to John Travolta. That's part of why I wanted to produce - to give myself good parts.
- I am so happy that every generation still tunes into most of the classic and cult films I was lucky to be a part of.
- All those times I'd gotten married with the intention of having children, even when I was in my early twenties.
- Everybody thought I was a California girl, and I felt I had to work harder than most people. I went to a place in my mind from having watched other movies, so for me it was a little more challenging than a lot of people probably realize.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content