This Country Girl Makes the West Her Home



By Kelly Roberts
Photography by Andrew Eccles

Along way off the beaches of Baywatch, Gena Lee Nolin is riding high these days starring in Columbia Tristar's new action adventure series Sheena–Queen of the Jungle this fall. A Minnesota native, this bodacious blonde grew up in farming country, milking cows and enjoying the wide-open spaces.

Nolin first moved out west with her family to Las Vegas at 17. Soon afterward, she won the Miss Las Vegas title. She garnered agency attention after winning the "Look of the Year" contest and the Miss Barbizon USA national title. After a quick pit stop in New York, she moved to the City of Angels and landed a choice gig as one of "Barker's Beauties" on the Price Is Right. But the beach came calling: Executive producer Douglas Schwartz cast her as Neely Capshaw, the Baywatch babe who lassoes David "Mitch" Hasselhoff.

After four seasons of Baywatch, Nolin moved to the real West: Scottsdale, Arizona. "To have sanity and depth, to be able to really become a part of your characters, you just need to get out of LA and be a part of nature," Nolin says. She longed for a quieter lifestyle but wanted to stay well within traveling distance of the Hollywood circus. When Schwartz decided to create Sheena, he thought of no one else but Nolin to play the lead role. "I got along great with David Schwartz on Baywatch, and I am so excited to be a part of his new series. It is based on the popular comic book from the 1940s, Sheena—Queen of the Jungle," she says.

Her Western lifestyle should help her on the set. "I get to be around a lot of animals and ride horses, which I have always loved. We love to ride in Arizona, and we live near so many ranches out there. We are getting to ride horses a lot more now," Nolin says. In addition to her new role, two-year-old son Spencer and her husband of seven years, Greg, keep her busy.



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