Pamela Anderson Might Be An Oscar Contender In 2025
Over the decades, Pamela Anderson has been thought of as more of a cultural icon than an actor, even though she became a star after her role in the ’90s TV show Baywatch. Obviously, Baywatch wasn’t the type of show that gets critical respect for an actor. During that time, she also starred in the film Barb Wire. Of course, her acting roles were only part of the reason for her fame: she spent much of her life as tabloid fodder, and was a victim of a horrible breach of privacy and was among the first people to be shamed on the internet.
Over the years, she mostly retreated from public life, occasionally appearing on reality shows in America and abroad.
In the past few years, she’s been somewhat more public: in 2022, she made her Broadway debut, playing Roxie Hart in Chicago. The following year, she released her autobiography, Love, Pamela and a documentary about her life, Pamela, a Love Story. But her next project may take everyone by surprise.
She’s starring in a film called The Last Showgirl; the film’s synopsis says it is “a poignant film of resilience, rhinestones and feathers, stars Pamela Anderson as Shelly, a glamorous showgirl who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run.” The trailer shows Anderson as Shelly, struggling to come to terms with the end of her career. “I mean, Las Vegas used to treat us like movie stars,” Shelly says. “We were ambassadors for style and grace.”
In another scene, we see her talking to a character played by Dave Bautista, telling him, “Feeling seen, feeling beautiful: that’s powerful! And I can’t imagine my life without it!” as we hear Miley Cyrus sing, “Beautiful That Way.” (Jamie Lee Curtis, Brenda Song, Billie Lourd and Jason Schwartzman are also in the cast.)
Anderson told Deadline of the role, “It was such a relief to … be able to do a real film. This is the first script I ever read that was a good one. No one was giving me scripts like this. So I just poured everything I could into it because I thought, ‘What if this is the only film I ever get to do?’”
Watch the trailer below.
The film was directed by Gia Coppola (the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola). The Last Showgirl is due in theaters on January 10.
