American actress Elizabeth Berkley was BOTD in 1974. Born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, she trained as a dancer, and had a brief career as a model before transitioning to acting. Her big break came in 1989 when she co-starred in TV teen comedy Saved By the Bell. In 1995, she became instantly and internationally notorious for her starring role as Nomi Malone, the ambitious, poodle-permed and frequently naked dancer at the centre of Paul Verhoeven’s 1995 erotic drama Showgirls. Much of the blame for the film’s critical and commercial failure was aimed at Berkley, who was publicly crucified for her affectless line readings, deeply unerotic pole dancing and an alarmingly acrobatic sex scene in a swimming pool with Kyle McLachlan. In a scathing takedown of the film, New York Times critic Janet Maslin described Berkley as having “the open-mouthed, vacant-eyed look of an inflatable party doll.” Berkley won Worst Actress at the Golden Raspberry Awards and was subsequently dropped by her agent and blacklisted by casting agents. One of her few champions was the writer Quentin Crisp, whose review praised her scorched-earth performance and the film’s authentic depiction of Las Vegas strip clubs. Undaunted, Berkley worked her way back into showbiz with small roles in The First Wives’ Club, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Roger Dodger, a wittily self-referential guest appearance in lesbian TV series The L Word, and won praise for a 2005 off-Broadway production of Hurlyburly. Gay audiences were, naturally, the first to embrace the subversive humour of Showgirls, and it became a camp classic during the 90s, with audiences gathering to chant Berkeley’s overripe dialogue (including her much-quoted pronunciation of “Versace” as “Ver-sayse”). The film’s reputation was eventually reappraised, and Berkeley’s performance reappraised as a daring act of satire. Berkeley’s turbulent career and status as a camp icon was explored in the 2019 documentary You Don’t Nomi. Now largely retired from acting, she lives with her husband Greg Lauren (nephew of Ralph), with whom she has a son.