Pamela Denise Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada on July 1, 1967 (age 58), having been born on July 1, 1967, the 100th anniversary of Canada's official founding via the Constitution Act, 1867.
Early life
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Anderson was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada, the daughter of Barry Anderson, a furnace repairman, and Carol, a waitress. Her great-grandfather, Juho Hyytiäinen, was a Finnish native of Saarijärvi, and left the Grand Duchy of Finland (which was an autonomous state within the Russian Empire at the time) for Canada in 1908.
He changed his name to Anderson when he arrived as an immigrant. Anderson also has Volga German ancestry on her mother's side; her grandmother, ethnically German, was born in Russia in a Mennonite village and immigrated to Canada in 1901
Anderson received press coverage right after her birth as a "Centennial Baby", having been born on July 1, 1967, the 100th anniversary of Canada's official founding via the Constitution Act, 1867.
She has a younger brother, Gerry (born 1971), an actor and producer who worked in some of her films and television shows.
Career: 1989–1999: Modeling and acting breakthrough
In 1989, Anderson attended a BC Lions Canadian Football League game at the BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, where she was featured on the jumbotron while wearing a Labatt's Beer T-shirt. The brewing company hired Anderson briefly as a spokesmodel. Inspired by the event, her then-boyfriend Dan Ilicic produced a poster of her image, entitled the Blue Zone Girl.
Anderson was flown to Los Angeles for a photo shoot; she appeared as the cover girl on Playboy magazine's October 1989 issue. She subsequently moved to the United States, settling in LA to further pursue a modelling career. Playboy subsequently chose her as Playmate of the Month in their February 1990 issue, in which she appeared in the centerfold portrait. Anderson then elected to have breast implant surgery, increasing her bust size to 34D. She increased her bust size again, to 34DD, several years later. Her Playboy career spans 22 years, and she has appeared on more Playboy covers than any other model.
She has also made numerous appearances in the publication's newsstand specials. Anderson wrote the foreword to the Playboy coffee table book Playboy's Greatest Covers. After Anderson moved to Los Angeles, she won a minor role as Lisa, the original "Tool Time Girl", on the ABC comedy series Home Improvement.
Her breakthrough role was as C.J. Parker on Baywatch, which she played for five seasons between 1992 and 1997, making her one of the longest-serving cast members. The series has gained her popularity from international viewers and the character of Parker became one of her best-known roles, having been reenacted by multiple high-profile people since. Anderson was paid US$1,500 per episode during the first season. She reprised her role in a reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003), and also appeared in commercials for DirecTV in 2007. Anderson was still modelling for Outdoor Life and appearing on the cover of the magazine each year. In 1993, Anderson appeared in a music video "Can't Have Your Cake" by Vince Neil to promote his first solo album, Exposed.
In 1994, she was cast in her first starring film role, in Raw Justice, also known as Good Cop, Bad Cop, co-starring with Stacy Keach, David Keith, and Robert Hays. Under the alternate title, the film won the Bronze Award at the Worldfest-Charleston in the category for dramatic theatrical films. In 1996, she played Barbara Rose Kopetski in the film Barb Wire. The movie, a thinly veiled futuristic remake of Casablanca, was not a commercial success. During filming, she had barbed wire tattooed on her left upper arm instead of having it painted on by make-up artists every day, but she had it removed in 2016. In April 1997, she guest-hosted Saturday Night Live. She appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of Playboy. In September 1998, Anderson starred as Vallery Irons in the Sony Pictures Television syndicated action/comedy-drama series V.I.P. created by J. F. Lawton. The series had a successful four-year run. In 1999, she appeared as a man-eating giantess in the music video for "Miserable" by California alternative rock band Lit. She appeared on The Nanny as Fran Fine's rival, Heather Biblow.