Meet Daphne Zuniga — The Actress Currently Burning Up The Small Screen In VC Andrews' 'Gates Of Paradise'

Go'head baby!

Who Is Daphne Zuniga? New Details On Former Melrose Place Star Heating Up Screen In VC Andrews' Gates Of Paradise Instagram
Advertisement

We have no choice but to stan a queen, and this actress is definitely on her queenly status. Who is Daphne Zuniga, and why do we stan this gorgeous queen? 

Let's look at what we know about this longtime actress. 

Advertisement

RELATED: Laura Leighton & Doug Savant: From Melrose Place to Real Life Love

1. She got her start in slasher flicks. 

According to her IMDB page, Daphne Zuniga got her start all the way back in 1982, when she played "Debbie" in the slasher flick, The Dorm That Dripped Blood. She followed up that slasher flick with her role as Kelly Fairchild in The Initiation. But it was her role in Spaceballs as Princess Vespa — the Princess Leia analogue — that ultimately broke her into the mainstream. 

2. Daphne Zuniga is perhaps best known for her role on Melrose Place — and we just might see her again in that role!

“Yeah. I would never say no to good material if it were good, right? I think the setup is really interesting that they’re playing their characters wanting to do a revival. So I don’t know that we would do that same thing, we’d have to come up with something clever,” she told Celebrity Insider in reference to the BH90210 revival, while adding that she still keeps in touch with a lot of the cast members. 

Advertisement

3. She recently got married for the first time!

According to People Magazine, the actress admitted that she waited until this year — her 56th year — to get married for the first time. Her husband, David, has been with her for 12 years, and they'd been engaged for two years, but she said it never felt "right" to get married to him until now. 

RELATED: George Clooney's 9 Love Lives

Advertisement

4. Daphne Zuniga said that she has one book, in particular, that's her favorite. 

"My favorite book is Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg. She just officiated my wedding!" she told Us Weekly

5. She prepared for her role in Gates of Paradise in a very interesting way. 

According to Hollywood Life, Daphne Zuniga — who plays the evil Nurse Broadfield in the film — said that she prepared for the role by pretending that the target of her evil intent was "a little brat," so that she'd have a purpose behind her wicked ways. 

6. Daphne Zuniga said her character is "Nurse Ratched on Steroids."

"It was irresistible," Zuniga told UPI in a recent phone interview, describing the juicy character role as "Nurse Ratched on steroids," a reference to the tyrannical caregiver Louise Fletcher played in the 1975 film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Nurse Broadfield takes her job and her expertise at being a nurse very seriously and, even if things are borderline questionable on the abusive side, she does it all in the name of healing," Zuniga said to UPI.
As we said, we have no choice but to stan a queen!

Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. For more information about Bernadette Giacomazzo, click here.

Advertisement