Anderson was born in 1967 in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada of partially Finnish ancestry (her paternal grandfather, Juho Hyytiainen, left Finland in 1908). As the first baby born on Canada's Centennial Day (unexpectedly well past midnight, at 4:08 in the morning), the newborn Anderson won fame as the nation's "Centennial Little one".

She was subsequently "found" in 1989 when, attending a B.C. Lions football game wearing a Labatt's beer t-shirt, her image was shown on the stadium's giant screen. She was hired by Labatt's to promote their product, and soon after, she appeared in Playboy magazine. She later had breast augmentation and collagen to enhance her appearance. Her natural hair color is brown and she bleaches her own hair at home according to her personal stylist.

Anderson's first major television role was on the United States hit television sitcom Home Improvement (1991-1993). But her rise to stardom came primarily from her role as C J Parker (1992-1997) on Baywatch. In 1996, she appeared in a feature film, Barb Wire, which failed to achieve commercial success; and in 1998 she appeared in her own television series, V.I.P., which ran for four seasons. As of April 13, 2005, Anderson starred on a new FOX TV series, Stacked as Skylar Dayton.

In addition to her fame from modelling and acting, Anderson has gotten a great deal of press attention for her flamboyant personal life. She married rock star Tommy Lee of the band Mötley Crüe after knowing him for only 96 hours, and subsequently bore him two sons, Brandon and Dylan. After reported incidents of spousal abuse and alcoholism on the part of Lee, Anderson filed for divorce twice and reconciled twice, before the couple finally broke up for good. During the period of her marriage, she was known professionally as Pamela Anderson Lee. Since her divorce, she has become engaged to model Marcus Schenkenberg, broken up with him, and became engaged to rock musician Kid Rock. She was dating actor Stephen Dorff, but now they're friends.

Anderson has also had relationships with Scott Baio, "Baywatch" co-star David Charvet, and musician Bret Michaels of the band Poison. She has also allegedly has had affairs with famous men including Dean Cain, Sylvester Stallone, surfer Kelly Slater, Ben Affleck, Fred Durst, and reality TV star Eric Nies.

A pornographic home video of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee was stolen from their home, and made a huge stir on the Internet. Anderson sued an Internet company that was distributing the video, and some media sources reported that she settled the case for $10 million. The popularity and profitability of the video sparked a miniature genre within the porn film industry, and since then many homemade porn videos of celebrities have been released to the public through home video and Internet channels (sometimes with and sometimes without the participants' co-operation). The frames of the video first appeared in Penthouse Magazine in March of 1998.

In March 2001, Christine Evelyn Roth pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of trespassing and was deported to her home country, France. The woman had been arrested while sleeping in a guest room of Anderson's home, but she was only charged with trespassing and not the more serious crime of stalking.

In March 2002, Anderson publicly stated that she had contracted the Hepatitis C virus from Lee (supposedly from sharing tattoo needles), and began writing a regular column for Jane magazine. Lee denies having the disease. Anderson became the celebrity spokesperson for the American Liver Foundation, and served as the Grand Marshall of the SOS motorcycle ride fundraiser in October. In October 2003, Anderson jokingly said on Howard Stern's radio show that she does not expect to live more than ten or fifteen years [http://web.archive.org/web/20041029141238/www.pamelaanderson.com/news/news.asp?item=2056], but this was misconstrued and taken seriously by many Internet sites and tabloids.

Anderson became a naturalized citizen of the United States on May 12, 2004, while retaining her Canadian citizenship, for the purpose of sponsoring her parents (or at least her mother) for a green card. She has lived in southern California since 1989.

She is currently a columnist for the Canadian Elle magazine, stars in the sitcom Stacked and voices the cartoon vixen Agent 69 Stripperella in the series of the same name. She has also voiced herself in the series.

Anderson has often spoken revealingly about her private life. On a visit to the David Letterman show in 2004, she said she had not been dating for some time, and when Letterman asked her how she was coping, she responded, "There's non the square corner left anywhere within the home!" Letterman left that comment unanswered while the audience hooted at the mental picture she was painting.

Writing
In 2004, Pamela Anderson released the book Star, in which she describes a young teenager doing different things in order to reach fame. After this, she began touring across the States, signing autographs to fans at Wal-Mart stores nationwide.

Animal rights
In 1999, Anderson received the Linda McCartney Award for animal rights protectors.

In 2001, Anderson released a letter in support of PETA's vandalism of Kentucky Fried Chicken; stating, "What KFC does to 750 million chickens, each season, is non civilised or even acceptable."

In 2003, Anderson stripped down for PETA's "I'five hundred Like Last Naked Than Have on Fur" advertising campaign.

Filmography
The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991) Snapdragon (1993) Raw Justice (1994) Naked Souls (1995) Barb Wire (1996) The Making of Bret Michaels (2002) (documentary) Scooby-Doo (2002) (Cameo) Earthlings (2003) (documentary) Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003) Scary Movie 3 (2003) No Rules (2005) (Cameo)

TV work
Home Improvement (cast member from 1991-1993) Baywatch: River of No Return (1992) Baywatch (cast member from 1992-1997) ''Come Die with Me: A Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Mystery (1994) Baywatch: Forbidden Paradise (1995) V.I.P. (1998-2002) (also executive producer) Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003) Stripperella (2003-present) (voice) Stacked (2005-present)

Her appearances in Playboy Special Editions
Playboy's Playmate Review Vol. 7 June 1991. Playboy's Nudes December 1991 - cover. Playboy's International Playmates January 1992. Playboy's '''Girls of Summer '92''' June 1992. Playboy's '''Girls of Summer '93''' June 1993 - pages 6-7, 44. Playboy's Wet & Wild Women July 1993. Playboy's Video Playmates August 1993. Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 33 September 1993. Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 34 November 1993. Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 35 January 1994. Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 36 March 1994. Playboy's Playmates in Paradise March 1994 - pages 38-43. Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 37 May 1994. Playboy's '''Girls of Summer '94''' June 1994. Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 38 July 1994. Playboy's Nudes November 1994. Playboy's Hot Denim Daze May 1995 - page 15. Playboy's Nude Celebrities June 1995 - cover. Playboy's Sexy 100'' February 2003 - cover.

Pro wrestling
Pamela made an appearance at the World Wrestling Federation's Wrestlemania XI on April 2, 1995 as the guest valet for WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel. Diesel was wrestling Shawn Michaels who had Jenny McCarthy as his guest valet. Diesel left after pinning Michaels with Anderson & McCarthy.

Trivia
Has been called "a best known blonde in the world" [http://www.eonline.com/On/Holly/Shows/Anderson/] Has a small bald patch on her scalp due to a injury involving the removal of a brunette wig. [http://abstracts.net/pamela-anderson/pamela-september.html]