oan Collins is first and foremost an actress, but she is also a best-selling author, an accomplished producer, a successful entrepreneur and a devoted mother. The daughter of theatrical agent Joe Collins and his wife Elsa, Joan Collins was born in London and made her London stage debut at the age of nine in Ibsen's A DOLLS HOUSE at the Arts Theatre. She became a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art when she was 16 and after less than a year was signed to an exclusive film contract by the J. Arthur Rank Organization.