Joanna Pacuła

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Joanna Pacuła (Template:IPA; born 30 December 1957)<ref name="Gefen" /> is a Polish actress and model. Born in Tomaszów Lubelski, she emigrated to the United States in the early 1980s, and first gained prominence through her modeling work for Vogue. Her breakthrough performance in the 1983 film Gorky Park earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In the years since, she established herself as a character actress, appearing in numerous high-profile films and television series.

Life and career

Pacuła was born in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland, to a pharmacist mother and an engineer father.<ref name="Gazeta">"Joanna Pacuła zrobiła zbyt małą karierę, by zasłużyć na honorowe obywatelstwo Tomaszowa Lubelskiego?", pomorska.pl, 11 October 2010, retrieved 2011-07-30</ref> She has a sister, Ewa Pacuła, a model and TV personality who has also worked in the United States.

In 1979, Pacuła graduated from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz State Theatre Academy. After graduation, she joined the Warsaw Dramatic Theatre, where she acted until 1981. She began her career playing in productions of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and As You Like It. She also found work in a few films, including Krzysztof Zanussi's Camouflage (Barwy ochronne, 1977) and Sergiu Nicolaescu's Last Night of Love (Template:Ill, 1980) in Romania.

In 1981, Pacuła was in Paris when the communist authorities in Poland declared martial law.<ref name="Gefen" /> She did not return to her homeland, and in 1982 emigrated to the United States, where she specialized in playing European temptresses. Her feature debut came in appearing opposite William Hurt in Gorky Park (1983). She was praised by Roman Polanski for that role.<ref name="Gefen" /><ref name="Gazeta" /> She played in numerous American TV series and movies, including the Holocaust drama Escape From Sobibor (CBS, 1987),<ref name="Rosenberg">Rosenberg, Howard (1987) "In the Spotlight", Los Angeles Times, 12 April 1987, p. 3 (TV section)</ref> The Kiss (1988),<ref>Wuntch, Philip (1988) "Horror Role is a First for Polish Acretss Pacula", Dallas Morning News, 14 October 1988</ref> E.A.R.T.H. Force (CBS, 1990), and the TV series, The Colony (ABC, 1996). She also starred in Lewis Gilbert's Not Quite Paradise released in 1985.<ref name="Gefen">Shefy Gefen, Pearl (1984) "This Polish Actress turns Holiday into a Movie Career in the West", Montreal Gazette, 4 December 1984, p. E1</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

She was featured in Marked for Death (1990) as an expert on Jamaican voodoo and gangs;<ref>Harris, Mark (1990) "Marked For Death starring Steven Seagal And Joanna Pacula Template:Webarchive", straight.com, 18 October 1990, retrieved 2011-07-30</ref> in the Italian erotic thriller Husband and Lovers (1992) as a free-spirited adultress; Tombstone (1993) as Doc Holliday's lover, Kate; in The Haunted Sea (1997); and in the film Virus (1999), playing a Russian scientist.<ref name="Deseret">"'Virus' is piece of garbage – even its big names stink", Deseret News, 17 January 1999</ref> She currently resides in Southern California.

Milestones

• Pacula was chosen by People as one of its 50 Most Beautiful People in the world (1990).
• She was listed as one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1984" in John Willis's Screen World, volume 36.

Filmography

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Television Template:Columns-list

Awards and nominations

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Production	Result
1983	Golden Globe Awards	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	Gorky Park	Template:Nom
1988	Saturn Awards	Saturn Award for Best Actress	The Kiss	Template:Nom

External links

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