Joanna Pacuła

Pacuła was born in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland, to a pharmacist mother and an engineer father. She has a sister, Ewa Pacuła, a model and TV personality who has also worked in the United States. In addition to her native Polish, Pacuła is also fluent in Russian and English.

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 (Ultima noapte de dragoste, 1980) in Romania. In 1981, Pacuła was in Paris when the communist authorities in Poland declared martial law. She did not return to her homeland, and in 1982 immigrated to the United States, first settling in New York City, where she began studying and eventually became fluent in English. She subsequently relocated to Los Angeles to establish a career in English-speaking films. Her feature debut came in appearing opposite William Hurt in Gorky Park (1983). She was praised by Roman Polanski for that role. She played 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 also starred in Lewis Gilbert's Not Quite Paradise released in 1985. She was featured in Marked for Death (1990) as an expert on Jamaican voodoo and gangs; 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. She currently resides in Southern California.

Pacula began dating film producer Hawk Koch in 1983, after he cast her in Gorky Park on the recommendation of Roman Polanski. They later separated.

In 1984 she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Gorky Park. She was listed as one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1984" in John Willis's Screen World, volume 36.

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