Angelica Bridges, a smalltown girl from Missouri, joins the internationally successful Baywatch team as Lieutenant Taylor Walsh. Born and raised in Harrisonville, Missouri, population 6,000, Bridges spent her youth as the ultimate tomboy - catching frogs, fishing and riding horses on her family's ranch. 

Bridges always dreamed of becoming a performer, beginning dance lessons at age three. By the age of nine, Bridges was already doing radio commercials and voice-overs for the local Harrisonville radio station. When Bridges was 12, she entered herself in NBC's nationwide search for talent, which was making a stop in Kansas City. Beating out thousands of performers, she was one of only 20 actors signed to a trial option agreement for possible work in the future. 

Bridges began her modeling career at the age of 14, appearing in Teen Magazine and, at age 16, won the title of "Miss Missouri Teen." Immediately following high school, she auditioned for a singing group that was touring internationally. She landed a role as one of the lead singers and had the chance to perform at "The Shanghai TV Festival," which is seen by over 300 million viewers. She continued to tour with the group and performed live concerts for over 20,000 people a night. In 1992, Bridges was crowned, "California Young Miss of America." While she was performing a show at Universal Studios in Orlando, John Casablancas, founder of the internationally prestigious Elite Modeling Agency, spotted her and immediately signed her to a modeling contract. 

Bridges spent the next few years traveling throughout the world as an Elite model. She also landed a two-year contract with Clairol to be the Ultress Girl and was featured on over a dozen magazine covers. She has appeared in numerous commercials, including spots for Diet Coke, Toyota, Doritos, Sony, Pontiac, IBM, Bally's, Hanes, Pepsi and, most recently, American Express. One of her best known commercials is for Brut Cologne, in which she plays Troy Aikman's girlfriend. 

In light of the success and recognition she has garnered from her modeling and commercial career (she is still represented by Elite), Bridges' acting career is also taking off. Her acting breakthrough came in 1996, when she landed the recurring role of "Sharon Taylor" on "Days of Our Lives." Since then, Bridges has had guest-starring roles on "Cybill," "Pacific Blue," "NYPD Blue," "Silk Stalkings" and "The Young & The Restless." She recently finished shooting a pilot for FOX entitled "Metropolitan Hospital." Bridges currently resides in Los Angeles, where she spends her spare time working out, swimming, playing volleyball, horseback riding and dancing.

Credit: celebritycd.com