Jane Badler Biography

Summary

"Jane Badler" (b. December 31, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known known for her role as Diana, the chief antagonist in the 1983 science fiction miniseries "V" and its sequels.

Biography

Badler spent her teen years in Great Neck, New York, moving to Manchester, New Hampshire, when she was in high school. Badler won the title Miss New Hampshire and competed at the 1973 Miss America Pageant. Subsequently, she enrolled at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to study drama.

Film career

Badler's first television role was Melinda Cramer Janssen on the American daytime soap opera "One Life to Live", which she played from 1977 to 1981 and again in 1983. During her run, she also appeared in a 1979 episode of the primetime series "Fantasy Island". Badler also starred on the daytime soap opera "The Doctors" as Natalie Bell from 1981 to 1982.

Badler then won what is arguably her most prominent role, that of the villainous alien Diana in the 1983 NBC sci-fi miniseries "V". She reprised the role in the 1984 sequel miniseries "V: The Final Battle" and again in "V: The Series", which ran for one season from 1984 to 1985. During this time, Badler's character was voted as the best ever sci-fi villain in a poll of television critics.

Following "V", Badler guest-starred as Meredith Braxton during the 1986-1987 season of the CBS primetime soap opera "Falcon Crest". Her other guest appearances during the 1980s included "Riptide," "Hotel," and "Murder She Wrote." In 1988, she played the role of Tania Winthrop in the short-lived action-adventure series "The Highwayman." She then traveled to Australia to play agent Shannon Reed in the 1980s revival of "Mission: Impossible" for its second and last season, from 1989 to 1990. After the series ended, Badler moved to Australia permanently and married businessman Stephen Hains. They have two sons, Sam and Harry. She later appeared on the Australian game show "Cluedo" from 1992 to 1993, and had a guest-starring role in "Snowy River: The McGregor Saga" in 1995.

An upcoming 2009 reimagining of "V" does not include the character Diana, but the series' executive producer Scott Peters has suggested that Badler and other stars from the original version may be offered guest roles as new characters in the future.

Music career

In recent years, Badler has forged a career in cabaret and on the stage in "archy and mehitabel" (based on Don Marquis's books of poetry), "The Great Gatsby", "The Singing Forest", "Big Hair in America", and two one-woman shows, "Shakin' the Blues Away" and "The Love Goddess: Rita Hayworth" in which she sings.

Badler released her debut solo album on June 1, 2008. Entitled "The Devil Has My Double", it is an autobiographical album which is described as 'a compulsive mix of fame, sex and solitude, set to a sweeping soundtrack of cold soul and passionate synthetics.' As part of promotion for the album she gave an extensive interview about her work to the Boxcutters podcast.