The Last Showgirl could take Pamela Anderson all the way to the Oscars

Pamela Anderson could win an Oscar next year. That's if the hype for her new film The Last Showgirl in the wake of its Toronto International Film Festival premiere is to be believed. If you're going to make a big Hollywood comeback, this is the way to do it.

It's fair to say that Anderson's career has been unusual over the last few decades. She rose to fame as a 90s icon thanks to her role as CJ in Baywatch, but has been absent from major films and TV shows since the end of the 2000s. Instead, she has made appearances on reality shows and focused on her political activism, including for animal rights and anti-pornography causes.

In 2022, Hulu made the drama series Pam & Tommy, in which Lily James played Anderson. The series was a comedy-inflected take on the scandal involving the theft and illegal distribution of a sex tape Anderson and her then-husband Tommy Lee recorded on their honeymoon.

Anderson refused to watch the show and said the filmmakers behind it owed her a public apology, admitting she felt "violated" by it. In 2023, she took part in the documentary Pamela, A Love Story for Netflix, in which she told her own story and spoke about the horrific sexual abuse she faced as a teenager. The documentary was nominated for several Emmy Awards.

Suddenly, audiences who had made up their mind about Anderson years earlier were reconsidering her legacy and her unique status in the horror-show of the 1990s and 2000s tabloid machine. The stage was set for her to make a leading lady comeback.

Read more: Pamela, a love story: Most shocking reveals from Pamela Anderson's Netflix documentary (Yahoo Entertainment)

In February 2024, we learned that Anderson had wrapped filming on The Last Showgirl — a fascinating drama directed by Gia Coppola. Anderson plays the titular role of a woman who has spent 30 years performing in a Las Vegas floor show, but now must consider where her future lies in the wake of the show closing for good.

Speaking at a Q&A after the Toronto premiere, Anderson said: "I think I've been getting ready my whole life for this role." In a separate interview, she admitted that she "thought I was never gonna get the chance to do anything like this".

It's clear that Anderson has put a lot of her own reputation into her performance in The Last Showgirl, which also stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista. The idea that "only actor X could play this role" is a promo circuit cliché, but it feels as if it might be genuinely true this time around.

The response to Anderson's performance after the premiere was rapturous — though responses to the film itself were mixed — with the star catapulted straight into the heart of the awards conversation. Kate Erbland at Indiewire called her a "major, major contender", while Deadline said the film serves as an "acting showcase" for Anderson in a performance referred to as "remarkable".

Read more: Pamela Anderson on her 'Last Showgirl' dream role: 'I have nothing to lose' (USA Today)

It sounds as if Anderson could be busy in the early part of next year when the award shows come thick and fast. Festivals like Toronto are a traditional starting point for Oscar campaigns and it sounds like both Anderson and Curtis will be a part of the race for acting awards.

But, more importantly than that, The Last Showgirl is the start of what could be a whole new chapter in Anderson's career. She's now telling the stories she wants to tell and, after years of being a figure of tabloid fascination, she's telling those stories on her own terms rather than through the sensationalist lenses of others.

Whether she does end up experiencing Oscar glory in 2025 or not, Anderson's work in The Last Showgirl will help to reshape her public image and could open the door for a whole new array of projects. Pamela Anderson is back, and she's better than ever.

The Last Showgirl does not yet have a UK release date.