Tamara was born in Seattle, but her family moved to Akron, Ohio when she was a baby. Tamara's mother, Elsa, is Norwegian and Tamara spent her childhood summers in Norway attending school and learning to speak fluent Norwegian and Swedish. Tamara attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio where she majored in business administration and marketing with a minor in ballet. In college, Tamara landed a small role in the play "Our Town" and was hooked on acting.

After graduating college, Tamara appeared in the musicals "A Chorus Line" and "Pippin at Akron's Popular Carousel Dinner Theatre" before deciding to give New York a try. After a few months of intensive theatre study in the Big Apple, Tamara hopped a flight to Los Angeles to try out her luck during pilot season. The gamble paid off when she landed a role in the film "the borrowers," starring Rae Dawn Chong." Tamara portrayed Eden Famhans, a crack-addict hooker from Harlem, for several episodes on NYPD Blue.

Tamara portrayed timothy Hutton's wife in the feature film "City of Industry and was featured in the film "Sour Grapes," directed by Larry David. Last year, Tamara's career took a nice change of pace when she starred in the family film "Our Lips are Sealed" alongside Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen; a rare opportunity for her considering the junkies and 'white trash' women she usually portrays.

In 1991, Tamara received the Dramalogue Award in the category of 'Best Lead Actress' for her work in the play "How the Other Half Loves."

In her spare time, Tamara enjoys snow skiing, ballet dancing and watching foreign films. Tamara recently became engaged to Alexander Moss Farkas, a regional sales manager for a computer-accessories manufacturer called Targus. She remains close to her mother who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio and two sisters; older sister Elizabeth also lives in Cincinnati and younger sister Leslie lives in Geneva, Switzerland.

credit: soapcentral.com