Irene Cara Escalera (born March 18, 1959), known professionally as Irene Cara, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. Cara sang and co-wrote the song 'Flashdance... What a Feeling' (from the movie Flashdance ), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984. Cara is also known for playing the role of Coco Hernandez in the 1980 film *Fame , and for recording the film's title song 'Fame'. Prior to her success with Fame, Cara portrayed the title character Sparkle Williams in the original 1976 musical drama film Sparkle .

"Why Me?" is a song written by Giorgio Moroder, Irene Cara, and Keith Forsey and performed by Irene Cara.

"You Were Made for Me" is a song written by Irene Cara and Eddie Brown and performed by Irene Cara. It reached #10 on the US adult contemporary chart, #78 on the Billboard pop chart, and #83 on the US R&B chart in 1984. The song was featured on her 1983 album, What a Feelin' .

"Fame" is a pop song, written by Michael Gore (music) and Dean Pitchford (lyrics) and released in 1980, that achieved chart success as the theme song to the Fame film and TV series. The song was performed by Irene Cara, who played the role of Coco Hernandez in the original movie. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1980, and the Golden Globe Award the same year. In 2004 it finished at number 51 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

Me, Myself & Irene is a 2000 American dark comedy drama film directed by the Farrelly brothers, and starring Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger. Chris Cooper, Robert Forster, Richard Jenkins, Daniel Greene, Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon and Mongo Brownlee co-star. The film is about a Rhode Island state trooper named Charlie who, after years of continuously suppressing his rage and feelings, suffers a psychotic breakdown that results in a second personality, Hank. This was also Carrey's first role in a 20th Century Fox film.