Pamela Anderson tells Jimmy Fallon about being discovered at B.C. Lions game

Screenshot courtesy: The Tonight Show

The B.C. Lions received some major publicity when international star Pamela Anderson told the story of how her career began after attending one of the team’s games in 1989.

“I was at a B.C. Lions game, and I had a Labatts t-shirt on, and the cameraman zoomed in on me and put me on the jumbotron all night,” said Anderson on The Tonight Show. “Then I was on Monday Night Football, people called, Playboy called, and then I came to L.A. — it was my first plane ride.”

The native of Ladysmith, B.C. did a Playboy centrefold only six months after attending the game, a testament to how quickly her star rose. She went on to enjoy a long and successful career as an actress, model, spokesperson, and media personality and has enjoyed a recent resurgence in the public sphere.

This isn’t the first time Anderson has told the story of her discovery, though this might be the largest audience to hear it at one time. The Tonight Show garners around 1.5 million viewers on television plus millions more across social media platforms. A clip taken from her interview was posted to TikTok late Tuesday night and has since garnered over 1.5 million views. Jimmy Fallon, the show’s longtime host, expressed his astonishment at the story, indicating he’d never heard it before.

Anderson recently starred in The Last Showgirl alongside Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista. The film premiered on Sept. 6, 2024, and will be released in the U.S. this upcoming weekend. Her performance received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Dramatic Performance in a Motion Picture by an Actress, though she lost out on the award to Fernanda Torres of I’m Still Here.

The 57-year-old made her Broadway debut in 2022 when she played Roxie Hart in Chicago for a two-month stint. She also released her autobiography, Love, Pamela, in 2023.

The game Anderson attended reportedly took place on Aug. 15, 1989, against the Toronto Argonauts. B.C. won by a score of 16-11, though the team ultimately missed the playoffs after finishing fourth in the West Division at 7-11.

From Baywatch to Broadway: @pamelaanderson reminisces on getting discovered at a @BCLions game back in 1989. #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/WV1ti47bF2

— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) January 8, 2025