Peta Gia Wilson

Born 18 November 1970 (Sidney, Australia)

Single

Height 175 cm.

Family:
father - Darcy Wilson
Mother - Karlene White
Brother - Rob
Son - Marlow (born in February, 2002, his father is a long-term boyfriend of Peta, director Damian Harris)

Peta Wilson is a daughter of retired military officer Darcy Wilson and food supplier Karlene White. They also have a son Rob, born in 1974, (who worked as a truck driver in the army of Australia for a long period of time) was born in Sidney, but had been to a dozen of places before she turned 13. Changing the schools every 6 months, Peta learnt to adapt her personality in each and single new place and find new friends, and it played an important part in her future.

Peta's mother Karlene says about her daughter's childhood: “She cleaned her own room since she was 2 years old, she was moving her lips, trying to sing along to Toto, was imitating Liza Minelli”.

In 1975 at the age of 5 Peta was in Papua New Giney, when she fell sick and had malaria for 9 months. Grandmother Elizabeth was tending to Peta after the illness, was determinidely undertaking the physical aspect of her upbringing. She would raise her at 4 a.m., swill her with ice-cold water, hastily made some scrambled eggs for her and send to the basketball training. Later on, at school, Peta started judo, much to the envy of her younger brother Rob. Peta's mother, a charming woman, was serioulsy concerned about the appearence of her daughter. Tall, angular, rough, she was more of a tomboy than a girl. That's why she sent Peta to the dance classes, but Peta continuously ran away from them. Mother bought dresses for her, and Peta would use them instead of bedding for her “pets”, like a boar, for example.

Father saw mother's anxiety, but was secretly very proud of his favourite girl. Peta was his elder son, his right hand. They won the river regatta all together with Peta and her brother Rob and received a prize, that her father still keeps — a toilet seat. He also shared his hobby with her — old cars, and because of the lack of free space in the garage, old motors were kept in Peta's bedroom. She loved the hardware, and the old cars have been her hobby ever since. Peta currently has 3 vintage cars: Classic Chevrolet 58, Ford from 57 and Dodge from 38 — her favourite. She only drives this car, and when upon a question: “Do you have a normal car?”, she always answers as if offended: “And what's a normal car for you? All these modern toys?”. Peta would gladly expand her car park, but doesn't have enough time for that, because she takes care of all her cars herself. “I am not good when it comes to the car body, but I can easily overhaul any type of motor”.

At the age of 8, Peta had her first New Year at a hotel. Musicians didn't perform that evening, but Peta did. She jumped on the stage, and started to sing and dance, though her legs staggered a little. Nevertheless, she had a huge success. Peta then tried to replay the episodes from “I dream of Jeannie” movie, by playing odalician girl in rose chador in front of the local children. They would run off at a day break, would come back at the dawn. They played near the river all day long, Peta learnt to climb the palm trees then. “We were a good team. We didn't need the money or the toys. We just imagined ourselves to be someone else, and loved this game the most. Me and my brother grew up together with the local children. We became the locals ourselves. And I spoke a strange broken English up until we moved to Australia”. Sometimes Peta and her brother were looked after by a local woman from the village who fed them dishes of snakes, owls and other delicacies of the local cuisine, which was not appreciated by Peta's mother.

7 years later Peta's parents got divorced. They never spoke publically about it. “I lived with my mother, my brother lived with our father. It was really difficult. I needed consistency, stability, that's why I moved in to live with my grandma and grandpa”. But parents were still involved in her life, and every new boyfriend went through a many-week trial period. Peta was the best youngest female player of Australian national league of netball (a type of a basketball, invented by australians). Peta became a model in Europe, but she grew tired of being assessed of how she looked, she suffered from anorexia and bulimia, and that's why in 1991 Peta packed up her things and moved to Los Angeles, a decision she doesn't regret. “Actually, I never had a goal to become a supermodel, I just wanted to earn some money”.

She rented a house together with her friend, and several months later she met Damian Harris at a party. He shared a cigarette with her, and they talked. She said she was a dancer from Amsterdam. That was her “legend” in Los Angeles. Damian was 13 years older than her, divorced, with a daughter. “I didn't want to be a substitute, and definitely not a shoulder to cry on. I was not at all interested in divorced men with children. No, thank you, I have had enough. I thought like that before I met him. But with him, I feel so cosy. He is a good friend”. She once asked him to describe how he sees an ideal woman. And then listened for 1 hour how he talked about his ex wife's virtues. “Why don't you go to her then?” - she asked at last. Instead of an answer, he put her down on the table and started to kiss her. She was mesmerized by him. “I live with a poet, a romantic. I call him “My dark Knight”. He is a looker — sexy, elegant, very intellectual. I never grow tired of getting to know him. It's like a fairy tale. We remain mysteries for each other, and always will. I love his eyes and his lips, like to put my head on his shoulder. His love helps me to live. I love him”. 3 months later they moved in to a 3 bedroom Hill House in Hollywood. She attended acting courses and got several parts in independent movies, that were the start of her TV career: Loser, One of Our Own, TV-show Strangers.

By 1996 Peta was ready to leave LA and go to NYC to keep on working ans studying the theatre. But before that, her agent persuaded her to take part in the auditions for a new TV show of USA Network, “La Femme Nikita”, that was based on the cognominal movie by Luc Besson. Without any expectations, and even not sure if she herself wanted to be a part of a TV show, Peta attended the auditions and won the part over 200 other actresses. Now Peta plays her first main TV part — Nikita in the show “La Femme Nikita”. She would be later nominated for Gemini Awards in the category “Best performance of an actress in the leading role”. It took Peta 2 months to prepare for the show, doing tai-chi, tekwondo, self-defence. She mastered the techniques of hand-to-hand fighting, kick-boxing, and was ready to penetrate any facility from the roof even in the middle of the night. Peta is doing most of the stunts in the show by herself.

Peta lives together with her grandma in Toronto, in a rented plaza. Peta asked her grandma to come from Australia to Toronto to take care of her after an intense 17-hour long working day.

The show became a springboard for Peta's successful career. In 1998 Peta used a break in between the 2^nd and the 3^rd seasons of “La Femme Nikita” to shoot a movie “Mercy”, directed by her boyfriend Damian Harris.

“Mercy is quite a dark movie with lesbians, pain, blood, murders” — says Peta. “It is not like Basic Instinct. It's also a thriller, but something else. It's a whole life, sexual life, though this word doesn't really describe it. Damian is a great artist. And if I were less talanted, I would have never gotten this part. His artistic approach is very important for him, his creative point of view. He understood that I was ready for the part, and his faith supported me”.

In the summer of 2000 Peta shot a mini-TV series “It's a girl thing”, done by Showtime company. In the focus of funny, but at the same time dramatic plot are a physcologist and her 4 patients, all of whom go through some personal problems and difficilties. One of the patients named Alex is portrayed by Peta. The first airing of the TV show was scheduled for the 20^th of January, 2001.

Peta then works in a new movie “Joe and Max” together with Til Schweiger and Leonard Roberts. The movie is telling a real life story of two famous heavy-weigh boxers — a german Max Schmeling and black american Joe Louis, nicknamed “Brown Bomb”. Their fights in 1936 and 1938 for the title of the world champion became the symbol of opposition of two systems before WWII. Peta plays the wife of Schmeling — actress Anna Ondra. The premier is held in the USA on the 9^th of March 2002.

In June 2001 Peta is invited to take part in the 23^rd Moscow International film festival, where she arrives together with her boyfriend Damian Harris. And it is Peta who is honoured to open the festival. Together with other celebrity guests (Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn and S. Hung) Peta visits Nikita Mikhalkov's summer house and meets Russian president Vladimir Putin.

In february of 2002 Peta gives birth to a baby boy. Healthy newborn is named Marlowe. “Peta looked relaxed as she left the hospital in Bondi, Sidney. La femme Nikita star was released together with her gorgeous baby boy. She was accompanied by Damian Harris, a son of a famous actor Richard Harris” — media was reporting at a time.

in June 2002, several months after the birth of her son, Peta agrees to take part in the movie produced by 20^th Century Fox studio “The league of extraordinary gentlemen”, where Sean Connery plays the main character. Peta's character — woman-vampire Mina Harker, the right hand of the leader of the league sir Quatermain (Sean Connery). Peta went to shoot the movie in Prague (Check Republic), Great Britain and Malta together with her son and her mother, who helped Peta to look after Marlowe when Peta was shooting the movie. The script of “League... ” by James Robinson is based on the works of Alan Moor and Kevin O'Neil, comics of Victorian epoch telling about literature characters of Tom Soyer, captain Nemo, Doctor Jackil, Dorian Grey, Alan Quatermain and Mina Harker who were summoned by Queen Victoria to destroy devilous plans of the Phanton to submerge the world into the war. In order to match the image of a vampire, Peta wore canines and special contact lenses. “They covered my eyes completely, leaving only small slots, from where I could see everything happening around me. Lenses turned my eyes as red as blood. In this movie, I don't look like what you are used to from before. I have dark long hair and talk with english accent”.

The premier of the “League” is held in the USA on the 11^th of July 2003. Even though the movie was not quite liked by critics, it still cashed quite a lot, and the following lavina of invitations to the talk-shows and shootings for the most famous glamour magazines shows that besides an already established TV career, “League” made the foundation for another one — big screen movies.

In 2004 Peta received an offer to play the main part in the movie “False Pretenses” (director — Jason Hreno) for a small canadian movie company “Life Time”. Her character — young woman Dianne (Dee Dee) lives a measured, happy life with her husband until a moment when her ideal world is destroyed by artful dodger. Dianne loses everything: money and house don't belong to her anymore, and her husband commits a suicide. Having decided to forget her past and start her life from the beginning, Dianne moves to another town. Everything settles down step by step: Dee Dee finds a house and a job, new friends. But one day a man who destroyed her life comes into the restaurant. Obsessed by the yearning of revenge, she can do everything to avenge. Premier of the movie is in the autumn of 2004.

At the end of that year Peta Wilson took part in the shooting of 2 episodes of a new TV show of FOX studio “Jonny Zero”, that focuses on a guy called Jonny. He has just been released from prison, where he was sent for drugs posession. Everything he wants now is to have a quiet life together with his family, away from the criminal past. But everything is not that simple. When out of prison, Jonny finds himself between 2 fires: his old buddies want to use his old connections to turn around some deals, he is followed by FBI agents, who try to pull Jonny over to hit his old friends from the other side of the law. Peta plays character named Aly hunting down the guy, who received Jonny's support and ran away from his probabtion.

The opening of the show produced by John Wells, who took part in the creation of Emmy-winning TV hits ER and West Wing, takes place in January 2005, but neither good acting of Franky G portraying Jonny, nor appearance of Peta Wilson in the 6th episoded named “Bounty” as a bounty huntress (Peta's performance was highly acclaimed by the audience) managed to counter a poor plot and a poor director of photography work. The audience of the first 8 episodes of the show (out of a total 13) was only 3,64 million people per week. “Jonny Zero” became the 2^nd least populat TV show ever done by FOX studio. FOX decided to stop the run of the show on the 8^th of March 2005, and the 2^nd episode with Peta named “Diamonds and Guns” was never shown.

In the summer of 2005 Peta gets a cameo role in a new blockbuster produced by Warner Brothers — “Superman returns”, and the shooting takes place in Australia from the 3rd of March under the supervision of a director Bryan Singer (best known for his work on 1^st and 2^nd installement of “X-Men”). Superman is played by Brandon Routh, and Kate Bosworth portrays his girlfriend. Kevin Spacey plays the character of Lex Luthor. Creators of the movie with a budget of 326 mill dollars would produce the image of superman's father Jor-El using the archived video footage of Marlon Brando.

Peta Wilson plays the role of a PR and HR specialist Bobbie Faye. Movie forums stated that even though Peta's part in the movie was tiny, it is a key one to the plotline. Maybe it will be she who will present the company dealing with criptonite — the only substance that can conquer “made-of-steel” Superman and which his main enemy — Lex Luthor is fighting for. According to the media, Peta is thrilled to work in her hometown, and also to be a guide for her “Superman” colleagues Kate Boswoth, Parker Posey and Kevin Spacey. Movie premier is scheuled for 30^th of July, 2006.

Peta lives between 2 continents at the moment, travelling between her home in Australia and her work in the USA. When asked if her decision to settle down in her motherland would hinder her career, Peta answers: “I am born as an actress. Taking this career was predetermined in my childhood. I have no choice. Whether I am working or not, I am an actress to the tips of my fingers. Having taken the break and enjoying what I have achieved so far, I am enriching my soul. Falling behind in the race doesn't mean you can't win it. It means you have less to lose. I like my life now, it is definitely richer”.

Peta's lively individuality made her an idol for many fans and a guarantee of a movie's success. It enabled her to start a brend “Psycht” together with her friend Jonathan Sceats that sells her favourite sunglasses, watches and running shoes. Later on, Peta withdrew from this business, saying that she was far too busy to devote enough time to the company. Peta has also becoma an owner of an industrial company “Sweet Lips” that was named after the fish little Peta was catching together with her granddad. Peta became a face of Serengeti company in 2004, the largest manufacturer of sunglasses.

Peta has been a guest of many popular talk shows, her pictures and interviews have been publised by such famous magazines all around the world as “People”, “InStyle”, “Details”, “Gear”, “Flare”, “FHM”, “Maxim”, “Vanity Fair”, “Playboy”, “Premiere”. In her free time Peta enjoys scuba-diving, horse-rising, cricket, drawing and plants cultivation. She wakes up every morning with a smile on her face now, and the greatest achievement and treasure of her life is her son.