Joanna Pacula

Joanna Pacula (born January 2, 1957) is a Golden Globe-nominated Polish actress.

Early life

Pacula was born Joanna Pacuła in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland to a pharmacist mother and an engineer father. In 1979, she graduated from The Theatre Academy in Warsaw.

Career

Pacula joined Warsaw Dramatic Theatre where she acted until 1981. She started her career playing in productions of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Othello and As You Like It. She also found work in a handful of films, including Krzysztof Zanussi's Barwy ochronne/Camouflage (1977).

In 1981, Pacula was caught in Paris when stalinist authorities in Poland declared martial law. In 1982 she eventually emigrated to the U.S. where she has specialized in playing European temptresses since her feature debut opposite William Hurt in Gorky Park (1983). She played the part of the exotic beauty in numerous American TV series and movies, including the Holocaust drama Escape From Sobibor (CBS, 1987), The Kiss (1988), E.A.R.T.H. Force (CBS, 1990), and the TV series, The Colony (ABC, 1996).

She was featured in Marked for Death (1990) as an expert on Jamaican voodoo and gangs; in the Italian erotic thriller Husbands And Lovers (1992) as a free spirited adultress (which featured a rather controversial bare-bottom spanking scene, a first in a mainstream film); Tombstone (1993) as Doc Holliday's lover, Kate (also known as Big Nose Kate and Mary Catherine Haroney, born November 7, 1850); in The Haunted Sea (1997); and in the movie Virus (1999), playing a Russian scientist. She currently resides in Southern California.

Milestones

• Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world (1990).
• Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1984" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 36.
• Her performance as Irina Asanova in Gorky Park (1983) is ranked #57 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
• In 2005 Joanna co-starred in Chuck Norris' magnum opus The Cutter.

References

The Cutter at the Internet Movie Database

External links

• Joanna Pacuła at the Internet Movie Database