Principal is the elder daughter of Ree (née Veal) and Victor Rocco Principal. Her paternal grandparents were Italian,
while her mother's family was from Gordon, Georgia, and South Carolina. Her father, a United States Air Force sergeant, was often transferred to different duty stations, so the family constantly moved, and Victoria grew up in London, Florida, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, and Georgia, among other places. She and her sister attended 17 different schools. Victoria's acting career began when she made a commercial at age five, and she began modeling in high school. She enrolled at Miami-Dade Community College, and wanted to study chiropractic medicine. However, being seriously injured in a car crash at age 18 made her refocus her energy on her love of acting. She moved to New York City, where she worked as a model and actress. She then studied at
London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1971.
Her first film was as a Mexican mistress in
Das war Roy Bean (1972),
starring Paul Newman. Four years
later, she became so disappointed with her career that she quit acting
and spent the next three years working as an agent. In 1978, she
planned on going to law school and later become a studio executive, but
Aaron Spelling offered her a year's
tuition to accept a role in the pilot of
Fantasy Island (1977). She
agreed, and soon after that, she landed the role of Pamela Barnes Ewing
on CBS' long-running soap opera
Dallas (1978). She left the series
after nine years, and began her own production company, Victoria
Principal Productions. She continues to work as an actress and
producer, and has also created a line of skin care products and written
three books about beauty and skin-care.
