Background and career
Lisa Niemi Swayze (born Lisa Anne Haapaniemi ca. 1956) is an American writer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and director. She is the widow of actor and dancer Patrick Swayze.
Lisa Anne Haapaniemi was born in Houston, Texas, the only daughter of six children born to the Finnish American family of Edmond Melvin Haapaniemi, a Red Cross worker, and Edna Karin Haapaniemi (née Hyttinen), a registered nurse. Niemi has said her father and her mother's professions were her inspiration and encouragement. She graduated from the Houston Ballet Dance Company in 1974. She shortened her surname from Haapaniemi (meaning in English "Aspen Cape") to Niemi ("Cape") in 1977 for her theatre stage name.
In the 1970s, Niemi and her husband Patrick pursued dance careers in New York City.
Lisa Niemi Swayze wrote, directed and starred in the 2003 film One Last Dance alongside her husband. One Last Dance was based on Without a Word, a play written by Niemi 18 years earlier which had won six Drama Critics Awards. Niemi said, "It was basically based on our experiences as concert dancers in New York, and it affected people a lot." She co-starred in Steel Dawn (1987) with Swayze and co-starred in Beat Angel (2004). Niemi also appeared in Letters from a Killer, Next of Kin, Younger and Younger, Live! From Death Row, She's Having a Baby and Slam Dance. Niemi directed Dance, a 1990 film.
Niemi co-starred as Carla Frost in 23 episodes of the TV series Super Force from 1990 to 1991. She once again directed her husband, this time in an episode of his TV series The Beast. The episode, titled "No Turning Back", aired on April 9, 2009. It was his last performance before his death.
On September 29, 2009, Niemi Swayze released a memoir, The Time of My Life, which became a New York Times Best Seller. The book was co-written by Patrick Swayze, and it was finished shortly before his death. On January 2, 2012, Niemi Swayze released another memoir, Worth Fighting For, which also became a New York Times Best Seller.
