Tina Louise became a superstar overnight as she starred as Ginger in the hit television show Gilligan’s Island. The New York native became a great actress, singer, and model. Though, she was often praised for her looks and not necessarily for her work on screen.

Today, Louise is the only cast member of Gilligan’s Island who still is alive. The show changed her life forever, but her career didn’t only consist of acting. The now 90-year-old is still going strong – and when you see her today, you’ll have a hard time believing she isn’t a few decades younger!

Let’s look at her magnificent life, career, and what she looks like today.

Tina Louise was born Tina Blacker on February 11, 1934, in New York City. Her father owned a candy store, and her mother worked as a fashion model.

Tina Louise – early life & career

When Tina was only four years old, her parents divorced, which made her childhood rather complicated.

“My path was very unusual. I lived with a lot of different cousins and aunts and strangers and so forth and so on, sort of a gypsy kind of a childhood,” she told Authority Magazine in 2019.

When growing up, Tina didn’t have any big dreams of working in the entertainment industry. Though, just weeks before she was to attend Miami University, everything changed.

“I saw a friend of mine who had gotten a part in a play on Broadway and he was the same age as me and I was very impressed,” Tina Louise told Authority Magazine.

“My mother took me backstage and I just really enjoyed it,” she continued. “And the very fact that my friend was in it gave me a little push to just proceed. I told my mother that I wanted to leave the University because the drama department wasn’t sufficient for me.”

Tina’s mother knew her daughter wanted to pursue a career in the drama department and honored her request. She began attending the Neighborhood Playhouse in Manhattan, New York, which she said “was, and still is, a wonderful school. “

While Tina Louise studied and perfected her craft at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, she also began modeling. Moreover, she was working as a nightclub singer. In 1952, she made her Broadway debut in the Bette Davis musical Two’s Company. At that point, her looks fascinated people, and she even appeared in Playboy Magazine.

In 1957, Tina Louise released her first music album, It’s Time for Tina. She continued working in theater and got some smaller parts in movies. However, in 1958, her life changed.

Breakthrough role in ‘God’s Little Acre

Her role as Griselda Walden in the drama film God’s Little Acre made her a Hollywood star. The movie received excellent reviews – and Tina Louise ended up taking home the Golden Globe Award for the New Star of the Year.

“It was incredible,” she told Forbes. “The movie ended up in the Venice Film Festival. I went abroad. There were all these people around taking care of me. I didn’t have to worry about anything. We sat in the theater, and I got bright red roses [laughs]. I’m saying, ‘Why did you give me roses? You should give them to the writer, the director – somebody else.’”

Instead of accepting Hollywood roles, Tina Louise went her own way. After God’s Little Acre, she focused on her Broadway work and also starred in some Italian films. In 1962, when returning from Europe, Louise started studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio.

“Everything Lee Strasberg said was important. He’d pick up your arm and see if—and how — it would drop to determine the level of relaxation in your body and spirit,” Louise told Esquire. “He’d say, ‘Make a sound.’ Some people would start to laugh and that would sometimes turn to tears. You didn’t have to be sad — it all came from deep relaxation.”

She continued, “I learned a lot from Lee about deep relaxation to get at something you were working toward. And then I found myself on Gilligan’s Island, where somebody’s telling you, ‘Go to the right.’ ‘Go to the left.’ That was an adjustment.”

Gilligan’s Island would make Tina Louise into somewhat of a Hollywood legend. Before landing the role, she was performing with Carol Burnett in the Broadway musical comedy Fade Out-Fade In. However, when Louise read the script, she wasn’t convinced it was a role for her.

Tina Louise as Ginger in ‘Gilligan’s Island’

Initially, in the pilot, her role as Ginger was played by Kit Smythe. But when they decided to make her quit the bombshell character, Tina Louise was the answer.

The stress explained that Ginger was “part Marilyn [Monroe], part Lucille [Ball]..” In the beginning, she felt the scripts were “snarky.” But after a while, she realized it was “light and funny and charming.”

“I always had fun with the show. Ginger flirted. Flirting is fun! Flirting is good;” Louise told the NY Post.

Tina Louise stayed on the CBS sitcom for all three seasons and a total of 98 episodes. Although her role was adored, she never reprised it on any reunion for television or movies over the years.