Gena Lee Nolin was born November 29, 1971 in Duluth, Minnesota. When she was a senior in high school her family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where not too long after, Gena Lee entered a beauty pageant and earned herself the title of "Ms. Las Vegas." From there, she had the honor of winning the Look of the Year award from the Elite and Ford modeling agencies, as well as the "Miss Barbizon USA" title.

After Gena graduated high school she went to Los Angeles to pursue a job acting and study interior design at Santa Monica College. When she arrived in LA she had trouble finding any jobs acting and worked as a waitress to support herself.

In 1993 she married Greg Falman, whom she met while handing out brochures at a convention. One year later, Gena found an ad in a local paper for a job that required being a Barker Beauty, on the daytime game show, The Price is Right. Soon after getting that job, she landed a part on the soap opera, The Young & The Restless, where she portrayed a young blonde model named Sandy.

Next came Gena's big break. Pamela Anderson shocked the entertainment industry when she announced that she was leaving Baywatch, (the show that made her a star) in order to pursue her lead role on V.I.P. This meant that Baywatch would be looking for a new actress and Gena was up for the challenge. Rumor has it that to tell Gena she had won the part, producer/star, David Hasselhoff threw her an inner tube with the words 'Surprise! You got the part.' written on it. "I saw this inner tube out of the corner of my eye, but I just kept reading my sides until someone yelled 'read the tube.' I was stunned," she says. In 2000 Gena followed in Pamela's footsteops when she decided to leave Baywatch to have her own show, Sheena.

Gena is currenly married to Cale Hulse, a professional hockey player for the Phoenix Coyotes. They have one son, Spencer Hulse.