As sultry Captain Samantha Thomas, Nancy Valen is one of the most underpraised beauties of the Baywatch dynasty. Of course, the problem may be that while fellow large chested lifesavers Pam Anderson and Carmen Electra were more than happy to slip off the red one-piece on screen, Nancy's later pursuits involved the frequent use of a disappointing body double. Oh well, some people keep their jugs in the darkness, afraid to let them into the light. But while Baywatch was the breakout first role of so many of her costars, the Brooklyn born babe had already been highly successful before she hit the beach. Nancy made her film debut in the sex comedy Porky's Revenge! (1985) before quickly landing a starring role on the soap opera Ryan's Hope just a year later. She joined Patrick Dempsey in Loverboy (1989), played a school nurse that had all the boys lovesick on Saved By the Bell, and appeared in episodes of Full House, Walker, Texas Ranger, Boy Meets World and Friends all before she patrolled the beaches of California. Well, sort of. She actually first appeared on Baywatch in 1989, playing a completely different role than she would when she joined the main cast in 1996. When you see the busty brunette bouncing up and down on the beach, you don't care about a show's lack of conskinuity. Admittedly, playing the strict disciplinarian Captain Samantha Thomas was the high point of Nancy's career both in terms of showing skin and achieving mainstream success. She used body doubles for nude scenes in both Final Embrace (1992) and the Michael Dudikoff action vehicle Black Thunder (1998), before showing up in episodes of Spin City, 9-1-1 and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Nancy made her big comeback in 2019 when she starred in Netflix's Colombian drama Playing With Fire. Hopefully she finds herself in some skintimate situations, because Nancy is still H-O-T.
