Joanna Pacula was a successful model and actress in her native Poland, until forced by the changing political climate to relocate to Paris in 1981. Pacula's first English-language film role was opposite William Hurt in 1983's Gorky Park. Here as elsewhere, she was cast as an exotic, secretive beauty, qualities that she was able to adapt to such roles as a voodoo priestess in The Kiss (1988), a murdered man's mistress in Black Ice (1992), a serial-killer target in Body Puzzle (1993), and a futuristic femme fatale in Deep Red (1994). Additional credits include Tombstone (1993) (possibly the most lucrative production with which she's been associated), the brief 1990 Australia-filmed TV adventure series E.A.R.T.H. Force, and the made-for-TV movies Escape to Sobribor (1987) and Breaking Point (1989). Thanks to generous displays of her undraped form, Joanna Pacula received a great deal of press attention for her role as the weekend companion of several loutish lotharios in 1992's Husbands and Lovers.
by Hal Erickson
biography
