English actress Lesley-Anne Down was born on March 17, 1954 in London, England. She began modeling and acting when she was just ten years old, and participated in several beauty pageants, culminating in being named Britain’s most beautiful teenager in 1969. Around the same time, she began her professional acting career, starring in the film adaptation of the novel All the Right Noises. She grew to prominence, however, when she joined the cast of the British period drama Upstairs, Downstairs; she joined in the third season as Georgina Worsley, an inhabitant of the townhouse’s “upstairs” area.
Down continued starring in numerous British projects; she eventually moved across the pond in the 1980s. Her American breakthrough was in the period miniseries North and South in 1985; her performance as Madeline Fabray LaMotte Main earned her a Golden Globe nomination the following year. In 1990, she earned a recurring role on the long-running drama Dallas, playing influential public relations woman Stephanie Rogers. She also starred in several movies, including Night Trap, Out of Control, Meet Wally Sparks and The Secret Agent Club.
In 1997, Down entered the world of daytime television, when she joined the cast of Sunset Beach. She originated the role of Olivia Blake, a broadcast executive and the alcoholic wife of lawyer Gregory Richards (Robert Guza, Jr.) She stayed with the drama until it was cancelled, due to dismal ratings, at the end of 1999. After a short stint on Days of our Lives, she joined the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful. She originated the role of Jacqueline Marone, the mother of Dominick Marone (Jack Wagner), who purchased and revived the ailing fashion house Spectra Fashions and “tweaked” Eric Forrester’s (John McCook) designs to sell them as their own. She would earn a Golden Rose Award in 2005 for the role, as well as a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination the same year.