Gena Lee Nolin was born in Duluth, Minnesota. She grew up on her family’s farm and as a tomboy. Her diet was that of fatty foods. As an athletic child she enjoyed skating, basketball, playing volleyball and softball. She went up for every team in school. When Gena was a little girl, she used to have a little blanket that she would play with as she sucked her thumb.
Gena had her share of problems with jealous girls in High School. Once, she got into a fistfight when a girl accused her of stealing her boyfriend even though she had never met him! The girl got so jealous, that she came at Gena and started throwing punches. Defending herself, Gena just swung and knocked her out cold. The girl was unconscious. Neely’s family moved to Las Vegas while she was a senior in High School. Friends kept suggesting that she enter the ‘Miss Las Vegas’ contest. She won the title!
She gained the attention of several Modeling Agencies, winning the ‘Ford Agency’ and ‘Elite Agency’ regional ‘Look of the Year’ contest and the ‘Miss Barbizon USA’ national title.
Gena had breast enhancement surgery in 1993. She went from an ‘A’ to a ‘B’ cup. She did it because of her height and thought that it would give her better proportions. She was right, it did. Gena does say that she didn’t do it to get parts or win beauty shows. She had no ambition to do anything like that. She met her future husband Greg Fahlman who is a video producer, while passing out flyers.
In 1994, Gena saw an ad in the paper for a popular, long running game show, ‘The Price is right.’ In the ‘cattle call’ audition, she beat out 1,200 other women to become one of the game show’s showcase models. For Gena, this was the perfect job. They worked three days a week, filming two shows a day with a ten-day break every two weeks. It allowed her time to continue with her studies and auditions. In that same year, she appeared on the CBS’ daytime soap, ‘The Young and the Restless.’ Gena portrayed a young model named Sandy.
Her other credits include the Special ‘The 50th Anniversary of the Bikini’ (USA NETWORK). Gena also hosted ‘The Gena Lee Nolin’s Party Games’ in Love@AOL on America Online. Gena has also appeared on national commercial for ‘Home Depot,’ ‘Starburst’ and ‘Hyundai.’ She was the spokesperson for ‘Sassoon’ Jeans (great looking ads) and ‘Clothestime.’