British actress who broke into
TV as one of the young blonde things on
Dynasty, albeit overshadowed (at least in the eyes of my
high school peer group) by
Heather Locklear.
Oxenberg played Amanda Bedford Carrington from 1984-1986 (Heather was gone by then but hardly forgotten). Amanda was the long-lost daughter of Alexis (the Joan Collins character) who had grown up in England (hence her British accent) as Amanda Bedford, unaware of her Carrington connection. Amanda arrived in Denver at age 19 to confront her mother. And, because this is a soap opera, she had an affair with Alexis' husband, Dex Dexter. Oh, that was after she became a princess by marrying Michael of Moldavia, whom she quickly divorced. Who comes up with this stuff?
Amanda was played by Karen Celllini in the 1986-87 season.
Oxenberg's feature-film debut was The Lair of the White Worm where she had a, um, interesting role that involved being bound and gagged in her underwear. Most of her big-screen movie appearances were in forgettable and/or obscure films; she returned to regular TV work with the syndicated show Acapulco H.E.A.T. in 1993. She also played Princess Diana in at least two TV movies.
She hosted Saturday Night Live once and completed comedy improv training with The Groundlings not too long ago. In 2001 she flew to New Zealand to film The Vector File with husband Casper Van Dien, then began shooting The Miracle of the Cards in Vancouver, all while pregnant with her second child.
And yes, she's been in Baywatch (bet you thought I was gonna say Playboy).
Other details: Born in 1961 in New York City, raised in London and once had Richard Burton as an acting coach. Worked her way through Columbia University by modeling. Occasionally goes by her married name of Catherine Van Dien.
Sources: IMDb and Catherine's own site: http://catherineoxenberg.net. Also two Dynasty fan sites (You didn't think I knew that stuff, did you?):
-- http://www.uberwald.net/dynasty/characters.html
-- http://www.geocities.com/yaniv_20/