Stephanie Holden (Baywatch)

Overview
Lieutenant Stephanie Holden is a character in the American television show Baywatch.

Stephanie made her first appearance in the episode Tequila Bay in 1992 (Season 3, Episode 3, air date 28 September 1992) even though she had already been credited in the two previous episodes.

Her last appearance was in the episode Chance of a Lifetime in 1997 (Season 7, Episode 13, air date 10 February 1997) where she died a heroic death.

Stephanie did one additional appearance after her death in Baywatch Nights episode The Eight Seal (Season 2, Episode 19, air date 26 April 1997) where she appeared as a ghost to Mitch Buchannon.

Stephanie was portrayed by Alexandra Paul in the TV series and a few TV movie

Physical Appearance
Stephanie was a statuesque young woman with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. The length of her hair changed during the seasons from being long in seasons three and four to being really short in season five. Her hair color also changed, ranging from light brown to dark brown and almost black.

When Stephanie was introduced in season three as a new Baywatch administrative assistant (later administrative commander) she was a fit albeit slender woman more suited for desk jobs than actual rescues. This changed in later seasons and Stephanie clearly became more athletic and also added both muscles and definition. Before her demise Stephanie had transformed into a fit and athletic woman.

Naturally Stephanie's appearance was that of the actress portraying her and what the actress did affected the character. Stephanie's actress, Alexandra Paul, was a slim woman when she joined the cast in season three. She was not in top form when joining the cast and even if she was reasonably fit, she was not on par with her female cast mates. Paul had soon realized that she wanted more physical scenes but those however were also physically demanding. To better perform and to look like a believable lifeguard Paul had began strength training during season four. As Paul herself noted at the time her body became firmer and she gained some muscle definition. During season six, Paul also began training for the Hawaii Ironman triathlon which also affected her appearance by making her even more lean and defined. These real world activities were reflected by Stephanie's body changing as the seasons passed, from a slim to a more athletic and even slightly muscular body to finally the wiry body of an endurance athlete.

Noteworthy is also that unlike most of the other female Baywatch lifeguards, Stephanie was flat-chested.

Stephanie was 178 cm (5ft10) tall and during her five seasons her weight fluctuated between 56 to 60 kg (124 to 133 pounds).

Stephanie was 26-years-old (in season three) when she joined Baywatch as a permanent lifeguard. In a flashback she was 23-years when she was subbing for Jill Riley while she was on vacation. She was 31 at the time of her death in season seven.

Skills and Abilities
Despite her initial physical limitations Stephanie was a good swimmer and diver. She was not a particualrly good runner but she did jog dailly to stay in shape. She also trained occasionally in the gym.

While she was fairly athletic, especially in the later seasons, her main strengths lay in management and leadership. Her leadership and organizational skills were often put to test, especially by the conniving Neely Capshaw. Regardless of the situation Stephanie always got the situation eventually under control.

Another of her strong suits was her ability to train and teach others; she especially excelled at training rookies. She also acted as Cody Madison's personal swimming coach for the Olympics.

Like all Baywatch lifeguards Stephanie was expected to be able to handle all the land and water vehicles at their disposal, including the Baywatch pickup trucks, the quad bikes, the Scarab boats and the jet skis.

Without doubt Stephanie's Lifeguard Rescue Skills were among the best at Baywatch and Steph especially excelled at assessing the situation and making sure everything got done in proper order. Her ability to perform first aid and CPR were also first-class.

Stephanie's frailness was evident in that she was often easily overpowered and restrained by both men and women. Meanwhile her fighting skills ranged from non-existent to very skilled; for example in season five she was easily defeated, knocked unconscious and taken hostage by a much smaller female ecoterrorist (Homecoming, S05 E14, airdate 6 Feb 1995), but a year later in season six she singlehandedly defeated the male villain showing considerable combat skills by knocking out the villain with a jumping kick (Baywatch Angels, S06 E14, airdate 12 Feb 1996).