Elizabeth Malecki
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Elizabeth Malecki | |
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| Birthdate: | February 14, 1974 |
| Birth location: | London, England |
| Birth name: | Elizabeth Malecki |
| Height: | 5' 5" (165 cm) |
| Shoe size: | 37 |
| Eye color: | Blue |
| Hair color: | Blonde |
| Ethnicity: | USA |
Elizabeth Malecki holds a degree in ballet and modern dance and is a professional dancer, actress, and aerobics instructor. She is best known for her portrayal of Sonya Blade in the original Mortal Kombat arcade game.
In 1992 she was hired by Midway to pose for their new fighting game called Mortal Kombat. Like most of the Mortal Kombat actors, she was hired after a Midway crew visited a local fitness center in search of trained martial artists to pose for their game. By using cameras hooked up to computers, Midway utilized a method called digitizing to capture Elizabeth's appearance into the computer, where Midway proceeded to make her part of the game as the female character, Sonya Blade.
After the success of MKII, Elizabeth felt that she deserved a share of the profits that Mortal Kombat's other formats had made, apparently nothing was stated about her likeness being used in more than just the arcade game - her likeness was also used in the background of "Kahn's Arena" in Mortal Kombat II without being credited. In 1997 she filed a lawsuit together with fellow MK actors Phillip Ahn and Katalin Zamiar. The lawsuit was ruled in favor of Midway, stating that in Illinois, a claim for quantum meruit cannot succeed where there is a valid, enforceable agreement between the parties.
Sonya Blade was played by Kerri Hoskins in further MK titles until Midway stopped using digitized footage of actors for the games in 1997.
Elizabeth has stayed out of the spotlight for the most part, save for the lawsuit. It is also unknown whether she has been involved in any other media projects since the MKII suit. For years, Mortal Kombat related forums have tried tirelessly to find real images/photos of Elizabeth, but have never had any luck.
