Vicki Ree Principal, later known as Victoria Principal, is a Japanese-born American actress, producer, entrepreneur, and author, best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the American primetime television soap opera series Dallas. She spent nine years on the long-running series, leaving in 1987. Afterwards, she opened her own production company, Victoria Principal Productions, focusing mostly on television films. In the mid-1980s, she became interested in natural beauty therapies, and in 1989, she created an eponymous line of skincare products, Principal Secret.

Pamela Jean "Pam" Barnes Ewing is a fictional character from the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas. Pamela is portrayed by actress Victoria Principal, first appearing on the show in the first episode, titled "Digger's Daughter", which was first broadcast on April 2, 1978. Dallas follows the trials of the wealthy Ewing family in the city of Dallas, Texas, which Pam has married into. Principal played Pam until the end of season 10 in 1987, when the character crashes her car into a truck carrying butane and propane and her body is severely burned. A year later, she was briefly played by actress Margaret Michaels in an attempt to write the character out. Pamela's storylines in season 1 focus on her relationship with her new husband, Bobby Ewing, and her fight against the considerable suspicion and hostility from within the Ewing family, due to Pamela being a member of the Barnes family. Pamela's love for Bobby remains a strong character trait throughout her tenure on the show, noted for its similarities to Romeo and Juliet, with two people from hostile families falling in love.