Livvy Dunne Makes Her Tonight Show Debut

Livvy Dunne officially has her late-night moment. The New Jersey-raised gymnast-turned-model-turned-actress made her Tonight Show debut on Wednesday, sitting down with Jimmy Fallon to talk about the upcoming Fox Baywatch reboot, her fourth consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover shoot, and the audition story that she clearly had been waiting to tell someone.

The Hillsdale, NJ native — who retired from gymnastics after helping LSU win the 2024 national championship — was in New York for a big week: the SI Swimsuit Issue hits newsstands May 14, and Fox held its upfront presentation for the new Baywatch series. She appeared alongside Jim Parsons and Chace Crawford on the episode, which aired at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.

The Audition Story She’s Been Sitting On

Before getting into Baywatch, Dunne gave Fallon — and the audience — the full origin story of her acting career. And it starts with a swing and a miss at one of TV’s hottest properties.

“Yeah, so actually my first ever audition was in person. Shout out my acting coach, Caroline. She’s in the audience right now,” Dunne said. “But I was obviously so nervous. And it was different because gymnastics, usually, you just go out there and perform on a four-inch beam. But this I have to talk and perform and play somebody else rather than myself. It was completely different.”

That first audition? The White Lotus. She didn’t book it.

But she kept going — and when the Baywatch opportunity came around, she submitted a self-tape with zero expectations. “I had really no expectation of what was going to happen. I got a callback — I mean, it’s iconic — and that’s the first callback I’ve ever gotten, and I ended up booking it,” she told Fallon.

Year Four of Sports Illustrated — and She’s Got Her Angles Down

Fallon also gave viewers a first look at Dunne’s shoot from the 2026 SI Swimsuit Issue, which she’s now appeared in four years running. She’s clearly made peace with the camera.

“I feel like by year four I’ve perfected my angles, I kind of know what I’m doing at this point,” she said. “But I mean, year one, I was so young and I was a gymnast and it’s so different shooting in a bikini rather than a leotard… it’s just very different.”

The Baywatch Run, Performed Live on NBC

Fallon, being Fallon, wasn’t going to let her leave without a bit. He disappeared backstage and returned in a long blonde wig, ready to attempt the show’s most iconic move. Together, the two did the slow-motion Baywatch run across the studio floor.

He nailed it. Mostly.

In the reboot, Dunne plays Grace, a junior lifeguard, joining a cast that includes Stephen Amell as Hobie Buchannon (son of David Hasselhoff’s original Mitch Buchannon), Jessica Belkin, Hassie Harrison, Shay Mitchell, Brooks Nader, Noah Beck, and David Chokachi, who reprises his role as Cody Madison from the original series. The 12-episode run on Fox was originally expected this fall but has since been pushed to late January 2027.

Dunne has been open about taking acting lessons throughout the process — her coach Caroline, apparently, has a front-row seat to how it’s all going.