What happened to Baywatch icon Alexandra Paul? More than 15 arrests, a stint in federal jail, and more

Alexandra is no stranger to being arrested, and her activism doesn't begin and end with animal rights.

Her official website lists all the causes she is passionate about, including her work with anti-war campaigners, organizations that support electric cars, and her belief "that human overpopulation is the biggest issue we face today."

It also lists several of her arrests, and according to Alexandra, she has been "arrested over a dozen times for protesting at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site" alone. 

She was also arrested during a peaceful 1990 sit-in for AIDS patients to access fast-tracked pharmaceutical drugs, for protecting electric cars from being crushed, and five times for peacefully protesting animal exploitation. 

Some of her arrests include a five-day stint in federal jail in 2003 for protesting the war in Iraq.

"My experience was the best it could have been under the circumstances," she said. "My bunkmates were a bank robber, a drug user, and a woman who was a secretary in a medical supply store that sold some beakers to a methamphetamine producer, and we all got along very well."

Alexandra added: "Many activists have spent so much more time in prisons hundreds of times worse than I experienced, and I am in awe of them. I was lucky to be among women who were kind to me, with guards who were for the most part respectful, and in a prison system that was treating me fairly."

In March 2005, Alexandra was arrested during a protest to save some of the last remaining GM EV1 electric cars from destruction. She completed over 100 hours of community service, and the charges were expunged.

In 2017, she was arrested for a sit-in at a slaughterhouse. One year later, she was arrested after rescuing a chicken from a factory farm.  

2019 saw her spend two days at the Sonoma, CA, county jail after she was arrested during a protest at a duck farm. That October, she was also arrested at a San Francisco sit-in for an animal bill of rights.

That was followed by an arrest in 2020 after she attempted to rescue a pig from a slaughterhouse. She also endured a nine-day trial in March 2023 after she rescued a chicken from a slaughterhouse truck two years earlier. Alexandra was acquitted of those charges.

Away from her activism, Alexandra has appeared in over 100 feature films and TV series, and most recently starred in the 2025 short film Redlining.

She began her acting career at age 18 in the telefilm Paper Dolls and later worked alongside Hollywood royalty, including Kevin Costner (American Flyers), Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd (Dragne), Jeff Bridges (Eight Million Ways to Die), and two films opposite Pierce Brosnan.

Her other acting credits include Melrose Place, Tethered, Say Yes, Baby Steps, Escaping My Stalker, Pink Skies Ahead, and The Estate

She hosted the extreme sports series Wild Waters for four years and hosted the WE network series Winning Women for two seasons. She also hosted 150 episodes of the environmental cable access talk show EarthTalk Today.

From 2019 to 2025, Alexandra co-hosted the podcast Switch4Good, which was awarded Mercy for Animals' Best Vegan Podcast in 2024. 

In her personal life, Alexandra has "been in a love affair" with triathlon coach Ian Murray since 1995. 

The couple married in Malibu in 2000, and they live with their "amazing cats", Sam & Simon, on the West Coast.