Ellen Lisa Happaniemi Lisa Niemi, also known as Swayze DePriso, is a well-known American actress, dancer, producer, and director of motion pictures. Being the widow of late Hollywood star Patrick Swayze, to whom she was married for over thirty years, is her greatest claim to fame. Thanks to her almost four decades of connections to the entertainment industry, Lisa has carved out a prosperous career for herself as an actress, director, and producer. She appeared on screen alongside her deceased spouse in several films, such as “Letters from a Killer,” “Steel Dawn,” “One Last Dance,” “Beat Angel,” and “Next of Kin.” She always had a knack for acting, and at the age of ten, she joined Houston’s Alley Theater to start training. At the age of ten, she landed a role in the stand-alone TV episode “Two Boys,” which was produced by Paramount Pictures. This was, coincidentally, her first small-screen appearance. She continued to refine her acting abilities at the Houston Music Theater, where she performed in several children’s musicals for four years in a row. Equipped with a degree in “Performing Arts,” she moved from Houston to New York where she began training as a danseuse and performed ballet under the auspices of Harkness & Joffrey Ballet. Before resuming her performing career and participating in multiple Broadway musicals, she relocated to Los Angeles and began experimenting with screenplays, movies, and authoring alongside Patrick Swayze.
Early Life & Childhood of Lisa Niemi
Karin and Edmond Happaniemi of Houston, Texas, welcomed Lisa Niemi into the world on May 26, 1956. She has five brothers. Her mother was a licensed nurse, and her father oversaw Red Cross Water Safety Services.
Lisa came from a family that was very interested in sports, thus she was a gifted swimmer from an early age. Since she had always been drawn to performing, even as a young child, she was urged to join Houston’s Alley Theater in 1967 at the age of ten.
She got her first break as a young performer in the “Two Boys” TV series pilot, which was essentially recorded for Paramount Pictures’ promotional use. She left Alley Theater to continue her acting training at Houston Music Theater.
In 1974, she earned her degree in dance from the Houston Ballet Dancing Company. She moved to New York in that same year and started ballet training at Harkness Ballet. She was a guest dancer, sharing the stage with New York’s most skilled contemporary dancers.
Renowned stand-up comedian and acting coach Warren Robertson helped Lisa get back into the New York acting scene. She starred in a 1976 revival of the original musical revue “Hellzapoppin,” which sadly never made it to Broadway and starred well-known stars Jerry Lewis and Lynn Redgrave.
Niemi dated Patrick Swayze, a gifted Hollywood actor, and seasoned ballet dancer, when she was a teenager while they were both trained with the Houston Ballet Dance Company. They were married in 1975. She moved once more after getting married, this time to Los Angeles.
Career of Lisa Niemi
After moving to Los Angeles with her actor husband, Patrick Swayze, Lisa Niemi began her coming-of-age. She not only starred with Swayze in several movies, but she also made substantial contributions as a director, screenwriter, and filmmaker. She resumed her Broadway career in 1993 after carrying on with her small-screen roles.
In movies like “Next of Kin” (1989), “Letters from a Killer” (1998), “Steel Dawn” (1987), “One Last Dance” (2003), and “Beat Angel” (2004), she appeared on screen alongside Patrick Swayze. She has acted in films like “Younger and Younger,” “Slam Dance,” “She’s Having a Baby,” and “Live! From a Death Row.”
She co-produced the film alongside Patrick and Rhonda Baker, directed it, and wrote the screenplay for “One Last Dance.” The film “One Last Dance,” directed by Lisa’s mother-in-law Patsy Swayze, was an adaptation of the 1985 play “Without a Word,” which won several New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards.
She played Carla Frost in twenty-three episodes of the action-adventure television series “Super Force.” She was one of the directors of the crime thriller television series “The Beast,” which starred Patrick Swayze in his final role before his passing in 2009.
In 1993, she returned to the Broadway stage and won praise from critics and audiences alike for her performances in plays like “The Brick and the Rose,” “Love Letters,” and “Will Rogers’ Follies.” Numerous honors were given to the play “The Brick and the Rose.”
Together with Patrick Swayze, Lisa co-wrote the memoir “The Time of My Life,” which went on to become a worldwide hit in addition to a national bestseller as recognized by “The New York Times.”
The Time of My Life centers on their romance, which began while they were just teenagers and continued for over thirty years, ending with Patrick’s passing in 2009.
In 2012, Lisa Niemi published a second memoir called “Worth Fighting For,” which movingly describes the final months she and her husband had while he bravely battled pancreatic cancer.
Large-scale Works
Throughout her professional life, Lisa Niemi has worn a variety of hats, such as ballet dancer, author, film director, screenwriter, and actress. Among her well-known film credits are “Steel Dawn,” “One Last Dance,” “Letters from a Killer,” “Slam Dance,” “Beat Angel,” and “Next of Kin.”
Here, two memoirs—”The Time of My Life” and “Worth Fighting For,” the latter written entirely by her and the former co-authored with Patrick Swayze—became best-sellers.
Honors & Accomplishments of Lisa Niemi
In recognition of her “passion, creativity, and energy to make the world a better place,” Lisa Niemi was given the 2011 AARP Inspire Award.
Both the Tower Cancer Research Foundation and Pancreatic Cancer Action Network presented her with the Spirit of Hope Award.
On July 16, 2011, in Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles, she was bestowed with the title of “Dame.”
Individual Life and Heritage of Lisa Niemi
Lisa Nemi first encountered Patrick Swayze, her future husband, in 1971 while she was a trainee at the Houston Ballet Dance Company. Following a nearly four-year romance, Lisa and Patrick tied the knot on June 12, 1975. By the way, Swayze’s parents owned and ran the Houston Ballet Dance Company.
Patrick and Lisa moved to New York City shortly after their marriage, where they stayed until the late 1970s when they moved to Los Angeles once more to support their professional endeavors.
In addition, Lisa is a licensed pilot, and she frequently took Swayze to receive treatment at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, California. Their collaboration lasted for over 34 years until Patrick Swayze’s death from pancreatic cancer on September 14, 2009.
On May 25, 2014, Lisa wed jeweler Albert DePrisco after two years of courtship.
Random Facts of Lisa Niemi
Swayze and Lisa never had children throughout their marriage. Lisa became pregnant in 1990, but sadly she miscarried.
The pair has resided in Los Angeles on a 5-acre property since 1985, where they kept dogs, horses, cats, and other household animals in a menagerie.
The net worth of Lisa Niemi
The estimated net worth of Lisa Niemi is about $1 million.