Birthday: 15 October 1955, The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Birth Name: Victoria Leigh Blum
Height: 171 cm
Tanya Roberts came from modest beginnings in the Bronx, New York, the daughter of a pen salesman (Irish) and a mother (Jewish) who were divorced before she reached high school. Tanya dropped out of high school at age 15, got married and hitchhiked around the country until her mother-in-law had the marriage annulled. She met psychology student Barry...
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Tanya Roberts came from modest beginnings in the Bronx, New York, the daughter of a pen salesman (Irish) and a mother (Jewish) who were divorced before she reached high school. Tanya dropped out of high school at age 15, got married and hitchhiked around the country until her mother-in-law had the marriage annulled. She met psychology student Barry Roberts in New York while waiting in line to see a movie. A few months later, she proposed to him in a subway station, and they were married. She studied acting under Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen. In her early years in New York, she supported herself as an Arthur Murray dance instructor and by modeling. She appeared in off-Broadway productions of "Picnic" and "Antigone", and in television commercials for Ultra Brite, Clairol and Cool Ray sunglasses.In 1977, Tanya and her husband--now a scriptwriter--moved to Hollywood. She began appearing in such made-for-TV films as Pleasure Cove (1979), Zuma Beach (1978) and Waikiki (1980). Her film debut was in Forced Entry (1975). After appearing in several minor films, her first big break came when she was selected as an angel (the last) for Charlie's Angels (1976) in its final season, and was featured on the cover of "People" magazine (2/9/81). The attention she garnered as the newest Charlie's Angel helped secure her most significant film parts: The Beastmaster (1982) (and posed for the cover and an inside spread in "Playboy" to promote the film), the title role in Sheena (1984) and as a Bond Girl in A View to a Kill (1985). She continues to appear in films, though mainly direct-to-video and direct-to-cable features. She is featured in the CD computer game The Pandora Directive (1996) and had a recurring lead role in the television series That '70s Show (1998). Show less «
I've made a lot of good choices and a lot of bad choices and that's part of life. Whether you're rea...Show more »
I've made a lot of good choices and a lot of bad choices and that's part of life. Whether you're really successful or moderately successful, I'm sure that to get there you have made some bad decisions and good decisions on some level, but that's how I see life. You can't go through life defeated, it's just trial and error. Show less «
You need to start somewhere. Jane Fonda began with Barbarella (1968). I'm not at an age where produc...Show more »
You need to start somewhere. Jane Fonda began with Barbarella (1968). I'm not at an age where producers will offer me Norma Rae (1979) or Sophie's Choice (1982). When you're young and pretty you don't get On Golden Pond (1981). But if you keep working, good things can happen. Kim Basinger got The Natural (1984) after making a James Bond movie. The same kind of thing could happen to me. Show less «
[on being cast as a Bond Girl in A View to a Kill (1985)] I sort of felt like every girl who'd ever ...Show more »
[on being cast as a Bond Girl in A View to a Kill (1985)] I sort of felt like every girl who'd ever been a Bond Girl had seen their career go nowhere, so I was a little cautious. I remember I said to my agent, "No one works after they get a Bond movie" and they said to me, "Are you kidding? Glenn Close would do it if she could." And I thought to myself, "Well, you can have regrets if you wish, but what's the point?" At the time I didn't know what I know now, and to be honest, who would turn that role down, really? Nobody would. All you have to think to yourself is, "Could have I been better in the part?" That's all you can say to yourself because turning the part down would have been ridiculous, you know? I mean nobody would do that, nobody. I was very young and I did what I felt was the right choice to make. Show less «
[interview in "People" Magazine, 1984] Even if I get thrown out of Hollywood, I'll come back. It too...Show more »
[interview in "People" Magazine, 1984] Even if I get thrown out of Hollywood, I'll come back. It took me 14 years to get where I am. I'm going to hang in there. Show less «
Fans make you. I certainly hope that people like me in the work and I appreciate every letter that I...Show more »
Fans make you. I certainly hope that people like me in the work and I appreciate every letter that I get. I'm glad they like me or else I wouldn't be in the business. But for fans it's a very different reality than it is for me. They're going to watch the finished product, which has taken us five months and a lot of hard work . . . I mean, I've been choking for the last three days on smoke--it's not very glamorous. It's not what it looks like in the movie, I'm on my knees, bruised half the time, it's action, action, action. Show less «
I think it's better to come into the limelight really slowly and do a broader range of roles, but I ...Show more »
I think it's better to come into the limelight really slowly and do a broader range of roles, but I took these glamorous roles and I think that stereotyped me. They sort of think you're some dumb, glamorous broad, so it's difficult, and I think that is the reason most Bond Girls don't go on to have careers after they have done the movie because people just don't take them seriously and I guess they shouldn't because it's so tongue-in-cheek, you know what I mean? Show less «