| Joanna Pacuła | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joanna Pacuła 30 December 1957 Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Height | 175 cm |
Joanna Pacula (born 30 December 1957)[1] is a Polish actress.
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Pacula was born in Tomaszów Lubelski,[2] Poland to a pharmacist mother and an engineer father. In 1979, she graduated from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz State Theatre Academy.
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 communist authorities in Poland declared martial law.[1] 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), for which she was recommended by Roman Polanski.[2][1] She played the part of the exotic beauty in numerous American TV series and movies, including the Holocaust drama Escape From Sobibor (CBS, 1987),[3] The Kiss (1988),[4] 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 Jerusalem in 1984.[1]
She was featured in Marked for Death (1990) as an expert on Jamaican voodoo and gangs;[5] 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.[6] She currently resides in Southern California.