Tracey Conway

The Emmy-winning actress was taping a television comedy show when she literally dropped dead from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Twenty minutes later, paramedics shocked her heart into beating again. Overcoming 20-to-1 odds, she survived and turned her miraculous recovery into poignant yet laugh-out-loud presentations that have wowed everyone from maximum-security inmates to Oprah Winfrey.

Tracey’s inspiring, informative talks “Drop Dead Gorgeous!” and “Dead: Been There, Done That!” are rousing anthems that motivate women (and men) to get passionate about their health and life priorities in presentations that have entertained and engaged audiences from Boise to Budapest.

A classically trained actress with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Drama from the University of Southern California, Tracey moved to Seattle to pursue a stage career. When the local TV comedy show “Almost Live!” needed an unknown face to give an “eyewitness” account of the supposed toppling of the Space Needle for a live April Fool’s Day sketch, Tracey’s performance was so realistic the station was flooded with calls about the “disaster,” and the city’s 911 callboard was temporarily disabled. Her destiny was apparent, and Tracey joined the cast full time in 1990.

Aside from being an internationally acclaimed speaker, Tracey is an accomplished writer. Her book is Cross My Heart and Hope to Live: Back to Life Lessons from a Cardiac Arrest Survivor and she also contributed the lead story in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Healthy Living: HEART DISEASE and received two Emmy nominations for her writing on “Almost Live!” Sought for her effervescent-yet-educated presence, she served as a panelist on Second Opinion, the PBS series that showed—in a way never seen before—how doctors navigate their way through tough medical decisions.

Tracey regularly keynotes Go Red For Women events for American Heart Association affiliates across the country, and she is also involved with several national organizations promoting the use of AEDS (automated external defibrillators) and the therapy of ICDs (implantable cardioverter defibrillators) for heart arrhythmias. She served on the board of Seattle’s Hope Heart Institute, is past President of Seattle Radio Theatre and spent years as a professional member of the National Speakers Association.