Cynthia MacAdams

Cynthia MacAdams (born Cynthia Rose Adams, September 5, 1939) is an American actress and photographer. She is recognized for her black and white portraiture, use of natural light and infrared photography, and images of sacred architecture.

MacAdams moved to New York City in 1961 for a career in theater. When offered a film role in Wild in the Streets in 1968 she moved to Hollywood. Her photographic work extends to the sacred in architecture and human artifact including the temples of Angkor Wat, Tibet and the Mayan pyramids.

Early life Cynthia MacAdams was born in Webster, South Dakota. She was the third and youngest child of Grace Woodworth and Albert Adams. The family moved to Sisseton, South Dakota in the early 1920s where they owned and ran the local weekly newspaper, the Sisseton Courier. Cynthia's mother continued the newspaper after the death of her husband in 1944. Cynthia's summers were spent at the family cabin on the Native American land of Pickerel Lake. MacAdams attended South Dakota State from 1957 to 1959, where she developed a love for theater and acting. She transferred to Northwestern University in Chicago in 1959, and graduated in 1961 with a B.A. in speech and communication. in 1961 moved to New York and landed a part in the Broadway production of Nightlife by Sidney Kingsley. She studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Sandy Meisner. It was during this period that MacAdams met two of her lifelong friends and mentors: the actress Shelley Winters and the photographer/filmmaker Robert Frank.

In 1978 MacAdams began her study of the female nude using black and white and infrared film.

MacAdams also explored forms of sacred architecture in portfolios of Egypt, Tibet, Angkor Wat, Indian Temples, Celtic and Mayan ruins. As with the nudes, MacAdams shot in black and white and infrared film. Mayan Vision Quest was published in 1991.

In 2018 Netflix released an original documentary film called "Feminists: What Were They Thinking?" using MacAdams photographic book Emergence, which featured portraits of women who were instrumental in the struggle for Women's Rights beginning in the 1970s, as the cornerstone of the narrative.

Photography books Mayan Vision Quest, Harper Collins 1991 Nude Photography, Amphoto 1985 Rising Goddess, Morgan & Morgan 1983 Emergence, Chelsea House 1977