Victoria Principal (born January 3, 1946 in Fukuoka, Japan) is an American actress of Italian and Filipino extraction, best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the long-running CBS nighttime drama Dallas from 1978 to 1987. She is also well-known for her line of cosmetic products.
Christened Concettina Ree Principale, she was the elder of two daughters born to Victor Principale and Bertha Ree Veal. Her father, a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, moved constantly, and after being born in Japan, she grew up in London, Florida, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, and Georgia, among other places, attending 17 different schools.
She acted in a commercial when five and began modeling in high school. She enrolled at the Miami-Dade Community College, and wanted to study chiropractic medicine, but serious injures in a car crash at age 18 made her refocus her energy on acting. She moved to New York, and worked as a model and actress. She studied at RADA in London, and moved to Los Angeles in 1971.
Her first film was as a Mexican mistress in Paul Newman's The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and went on to a co-starring role in the 1974 disaster movie epic, Earthquake. Two years later, disappointed with her career, she quit acting and for the next several years worked as an agent. Principal planned on going to law school, and later become a studio executive, but Aaron Spelling offered her one year's tuition to accept a role in the pilot of Fantasy Island. She agreed - and then landed the role of Pamela Ewing in Dallas.
She left the show after nine years, and began her own production company, Victoria Principal Productions. She still works as an actress and producer, and has also created a line of skin care products and written three books about beauty and skin-care. In late 1999, she appeared on the series Family Guy, in which she played her Pam Ewing role and parodied the infamous "shower scene" in which she dreamed up her Dallas husband's death (on Family Guy, she dreamed up an episode in which the family underwent a nuclear holocaust on January 1, 2000).
She also appeared in the NBC TV series Titans with Yasmine Bleeth in 2000.
The Naked Ape, a 1973 movie directed by Donald Driver — based on the book — starred Johnny Crawford and Victoria Principal.
She currently lives in Beverly Hills, California, with her plastic surgeon husband, Dr. Harry Glassman.
The animated television series South Park featured a character named Principal Victoria, which is a play on the actress' name.
Earthquake (1974)
