Dyan Cannon is an American actress, filmmaker and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was named Female Star of the Year by the National Association of Theatre Owners in 1973 and the Hollywood Women's Press Club in 1979.
Cannon was born Samille Diane Friesen in Tacoma, Washington, on January 4, 1937, the daughter of housewife Claire (née Portnoy) and life insurance salesman Ben Friesen. She was raised in the Jewish faith of her mother, who was an immigrant from Ukraine; her father was an Anabaptist of Canadian Mennonite ancestry. Her younger brother is jazz musician David Friesen. Cannon attended West Seattle High School and was crowned Miss West Seattle in 1954. She spent two and a half years at the University of Washington, majoring in anthropology.
In 1957, Cannon dropped out of college and went to live with her aunt Sally in Phoenix, Arizona, where she took a job at Merrill Lynch & Co. Courted by a traveling businessman, she got engaged and followed her fiancé to Los Angeles. They soon parted, but she decided to stay in the area and enroll at UCLA. A part-time modeling job led to an interview with producer Jerry Wald, who suggested she change her last name to Cannon. She signed to MGM, doing promotional work for the film Les Girls, and studied with acting teacher Sanford Meisner.
