Neely Capshaw
Encyclopedia
Neely Capshaw is a fictional character from the TV series Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...

. She was played by three different actresses during the character's run on the series – Heather Campbell, Gena Lee Nolin
Gena Lee Nolin
Gena Lee Nolin is an American actress and model. She is best known for her television appearances on The Price Is Right and Baywatch in the 1990s.-Career:...

 and Jennifer Campbell
Jennifer Campbell
Jennifer Lynn Campbell is an American actress and model. Her most memorable performance is from Seinfeld Season 4 episode "The Airport", as Tia, the girl in the first class seat with Jerry, as Elaine was stuck in coach. As the character Tia, she was also the Calvin Klein model and central...

.

Neely's introduction

Neely, initially played by Heather Campbell, was introduced as a one-off character in the fifth season finale, "Wet and Wild", a young rookie lifeguard who tried to make romantic advances toward fellow lifeguard Matt Brody
Matt Brody
Matt Brody is a fictional character from the American television series Baywatch. He was played by David Charvet from 1992 to 1995.Matt embarked upon a long-term relationship with Summer Quinn in the fourth season, and pursued a similar relationship with C.J...

 (David Charvet
David Charvet
David Charvet is a French singer and actor.-Personal life:Charvet was born in Lyon, France. His father is the Tunisian Jewish businessman Paul Guez. David Charvet's mother, Christiane Charvet, is French. He and his siblings speak French as their first language. He won a green card through the...

), who turned her down since he was already dating C.J. Parker (Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...

). Stung by both Matt's rejection and by his later discovering her drinking on duty while performing a rescue (he found the smell of alcohol on her breath as they performed CPR on a child) and reporting her for the violation, the vindictive Neely sought revenge by falsely accusing Matt of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...

 and, after he was suspended pending an investigation, filing a restraining order against him (due to an incident between Matt and Neely's then-boyfriend, stunt performer Johnny Danger, when Matt attempted to confront Neely about her hand in his suspension) and threatening to sue him, Baywatch and the County of Los Angeles. Matt, seeking to clear his name, then teamed up with C.J. to expose Neely's duplicity when C.J., under the pretense of having a fight with Matt, met with Neely at a café to discuss the case and secretly tape recorded Neely revealing the truth about her revenge scheme against Matt (which included Neely telling C.J. to lie about him as she had done, then admitting that he did not sexually harass her). Matt arrived on the scene moments later as he and C.J. revealed the incriminating recording and later brought it to county officials, who subsequently fired Neely from Baywatch for her actions and cleared Matt of all charges and returned him to duty.

The Gena Lee Nolin years

Neely returned as a regular character (now played by Nolin) beginning with the sixth season premiere, "Trapped Beneath the Sea, Part I". Her return to the show was explained by Neely being rehired by a reluctant Stephanie Holden
Stephanie Holden
Stephanie Holden was a long running fictional character from the TV series Baywatch. She was played by Alexandra Paul. She was the sensible sister of Caroline Holden.- Early Life :...

 (Alexandra Paul
Alexandra Paul
Alexandra Elizabeth Paul is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lt. Stephanie Holden in the television series Baywatch from 1992–97. She has starred in over 60 movies and television programs.-Personal life:...

) under orders from the county, which had opted to reinstate Neely to her lifeguard duties in exchange for her dropping the lawsuit she had earlier filed against the county, stemming from the events of "Wet and Wild".

Nolin went on to play Neely for three seasons (1995-1998). During her first full season as a regular character, Neely was the show's resident bad girl, being in constant conflict with her fellow employees and her boss, Mitch Buchannon
Mitch Buchannon
Mitch Buchannon is a fictional character from the TV series Baywatch. He was played by David Hasselhoff in every season of Baywatch and Baywatch Nights plus in the first season of Baywatch Hawaii...

 (David Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff
David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...

), about as often as she went out saving lives while on the job; in one early incident, she got into a fight with C.J., who was upset about Neely's rehiring and blamed her for Matt leaving Baywatch to move to France.

During the seventh season, however, the Baywatch writers gave her a personality makeover as she was reformed and made into a good character, a move which did not sit well with some of the show's fans, who liked the bad-girl edge that Neely originally had. Neely also appeared in only a few episodes of that season due to Nolin's real-life pregnancy, which later led writers to make the character a mother as well. Neely's absence was later explained by having her recover from a skiing accident, and when she was persuaded to return to work and get her lifeguard recertification after Mitch and Donna
Donna Marco
Donna Marco is a fictional character from the TV series Baywatch Nights. Joining the cast mid-way in season one, she became the new owner of the nightclub/bar, Nights. She also aspired to become a lifeguard at Baywatch. After the cancellation of Baywatch Nights, the role of Donna Marco was carried...

 (Donna D'Errico
Donna D'Errico
Donna D'Errico is an American actress and model. She was chosen Playboy Playmate of the Month for September 1995. Her centerfold was photographed by Richard Fegley.-Career:...

) learn of her saving an elderly heart attack victim with CPR following a botched drugstore robbery in the episode "Homecoming", she begged off of doing a necessary blood test, leading to the discovery that she had become hooked on painkillers during her recovery.

During the eighth season, the third and final season of her portrayal by Nolin, Neely became romantically involved with Mitch and they got married in a season-ending three-episode arc, "Bon Voyage" and "White Thunder at Glacier Bay, Part I & II"

Post-Nolin portrayal

Neely was recast following Nolin's departure from the show to star in her own series, Sheena
Sheena (TV series)
Sheena is an American action-adventure/fantasy television series which was produced for first-run syndication from 2000 to 2002.Based upon the comic book character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, which previously spawned a popular 1950s TV series of the same title, the 2000s series updated the...

, with Jennifer Campbell taking over the role. By this time, however, the character had been downgraded to a recurring role, appearing in only four episodes in the ninth season. The character was once more retooled to her "bad girl" roots as it was revealed she'd been lying for a long time about being separated from her baby's father; in truth, the man had no idea Neely had been pregnant. It was shown that a desperate Neely had seduced Mitch into marrying her for some stability (their marriage technically was never legal) but still worked on the beach. Neely becomes more conniving, even making it seem like Mitch hit her and trying to lace Alex Ryker
Alex Ryker
Alex Ryker is a fictional character from the TV series Baywatch. She was played by Mitzi Kapture from 1998 to 1999....

's medication, causing her to nearly have a seizure. Realizing how dangerous Neely is, Alex (with the entire Baywatch team in tow) confronts her on the beach, fires her and then punches Neely out. Her final appearance in the series was in the episode "Wave Rage", on May 3, 1999. Jennifer Campbell previous appeared on Baywatch in season three as one of Matt Brody's love interests.

Neely returned in the 2003 TV movie Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding
Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding
Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding is a 2003 made-for-TV Film which was a reunion movie for the series Baywatch.-Plot:Mitch Buchannon was believed to have died in a boating accident at the end of the 10th season of Baywatch. However, it turns out he only had amnesia and has been recovering in a Los...

, once again portrayed by Nolin. In the movie, Neely, who had thought herself widowed when Mitch was presumed dead after a boat explosion in Hawaii in the tenth season finale "The Killing Machine", learns that Mitch is alive and plans to marry Allison Ford (Alexandra Paul
Alexandra Paul
Alexandra Elizabeth Paul is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lt. Stephanie Holden in the television series Baywatch from 1992–97. She has starred in over 60 movies and television programs.-Personal life:...

), a dead ringer for Mitch's now-deceased one-time girlfriend Stephanie Holden. Discovering that Allison is secretly in league with an old enemy of Mitch's, Mason Sato (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
is a Japanese-American actor.In addition to his extensive film work, he has appeared on television in Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Encounter at Farpoint" , Thunder in Paradise , Nash Bridges , Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding , and Heroes . He also provided the voice of Sin Tzu for the video game...

), Neely teams with the rest of the old Baywatch crew to try to stop the wedding, as well as to rekindle her relationship with Mitch.
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