Born in London, England, Amanda Pays is the daughter of a show business agent and actor, Howard Pays, and a former actress, Jan Miller. Her aunt, Mandy Miller, was a child star of the 1950s film Crash of Silence, released in 1952.
At the tender age of eight, Pays began her educational journey at a nearby convent school, where she initially demonstrated her acting skills. Due to her distinctively throaty voice, she was often cast in male roles in the all-girls school productions.
At her mother's suggestion, Pays sent a Polaroid picture to a modeling agent, which led to a successful modeling career that took her around the world for the next four years. However, at the age of twenty-two, she grew tired of the "clotheshorsing" and decided to pursue an acting career.
Pays then enrolled in intensive study at London's Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, which led to her professional debut opposite George Segal in the HBO production, The Cold Room, written and directed by James Dearden, who later wrote Fatal Attraction.
Since then, Pays has appeared on stage, screen, and television in both her native England and America. Her notable credits include the London fringe production of "Fire Eaters," Thames Television's Minder on the Orient-Express, Lady Victoria in Oxford Blues opposite Rob Lowe, as the host of the groundbreaking television experiment Max Headroom, Max Headroom, as Sarah in the ABC miniseries A.D. opposite Ava Gardner and James Mason, and as Sister Nicole in Off Limits, starring Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines.
