How the Role of CJ Parker Influenced Pamela Anderson’s Career

Pamela Anderson’s career skyrocketed during the 1990s as a Canadian American actress and model. She is widely known as the February 1990 Playboy Playmate of the Month and holds the record for the most Playboy covers. In this slideshow, we explore how Anderson initially achieved international recognition for her role as “C.J.” Parker on the action drama series Baywatch from 1992 to 1997.

Anderson’s breakthrough role was as C.J. Parker on Baywatch, where she served for five seasons from 1992 to 1997, making her one of the longest-serving cast members.

She was paid $1,500 per episode during her first season on Baywatch and reprised her role in the reunion movie Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding in 2003.

Pamela Anderson was discovered at 22 in 1989 when she appeared on the big screen at a British Columbia Lions football game wearing a Labatt’s Beer T-shirt. This led to her first modeling job as the brewing company’s spokesmodel.

She auditioned for Playboy and became the cover girl for the magazine’s October 1989 issue. Anderson went on to pose for Playboy for 22 years, the longest tenure of any model in the publication’s history.

Anderson initially appeared as C.J. Parker in the first episode of season 3 at the age of 25. Her role solidified her status as a blonde bombshell of her generation.

She left Baywatch in 1997 to pursue other acting and modeling opportunities. Anderson reunited with some cast members in 2003 for the film Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

In 1994, Pamela Anderson landed her first starring film role in Raw Justice, co-starring with Stacy Keach, David Keith, and Robert Hays.

In 1996, she played Barbara Rose Kopetski in the commercially unsuccessful film Barb Wire and had a barbed wire tattooed on her arm during filming, which she later removed in 2016.

Anderson guest-hosted Saturday Night Live in April 1997 and appeared on the September cover of Playboy. In September 1998, she starred as Vallery Irons in the action/comedy-drama series V.I.P., which ran successfully for four years.

In 1999, she appeared as a giantess in Lit’s music video “Miserable” and played Heather Biblow on The Nanny.