Known As: Peta Wilson
Birth Name: Peta Gia Wilson
Birthday: November 11, 1970
Birth Place: Sydney, Australia
Zodiac Sign: Scorpio
Height: 178cm (5'10")
Future Plans: Marriage, a villa and 10 kids
Occupation: Actress, Model.
Peta Gia Wilson (she believes she was named after Miss
Australia 1970) was born November 18, 1970, in New South
Wales, Sydney, Australia. The daughter of Darcy Wilson,
a retired warrant officer, and Karlene, a caterer, Peta
and her family moved more than a dozen times before
finally settling down in Papua New Guinea (where her
father was stationed), where she was raised.
In order to fit in as best she could, considering she
was constantly switching schools, the self-proclaimed
"army brat" tried to deal with being a social
outcast by participating in sports (which she enjoyed
anyway) and by pretending to be "into" whatever
activity others were doing, thus performing every day
of her adolescence.
While in Australia, she was the youngest woman on the
national basketball team, and she was also an accomplished
sailor, having been named Australian Champion Trailer
Sailors along with her brother and father.
After these accomplishments, Peta decided to take off
to Europe and pursue a modeling career. She worked as
a model for several years and suffered from an eating
disorder; she soon grew tired of modeling and decided
to try her hand at acting.
Peta moved to Los Angeles in 1991, where she met her
director boyfriend a short while after. She and Damian
Harris moved into an apartment together, while Peta
was taking acting lessons with coach Arthur Mendoza,
from the Actors Circle Theater and a protégé
of the renowned Stella Adler. She was forced to study
intensively with Mendoza, and also has Tom Waits at
TomCats Repertory Group to thank for her acting abilities.
After her first role in Fool For Love, an Actors Circle
Theater production, Peta was cast in the films The Sadness
of Sex and Naked Jane, both in 1995. She appeared in
the made-for-TV movie Woman Undone in 1996, as well
as the series Highlander and Strangers, and the film
Loser, also that year.
After a bit part in Vanishing Point, Peta was cast
in her breakthrough role in 1997, as the title role
in the series La Femme Nikita (a.k.a. Nikita). As Nikita/Josephine,
a French superspy, Peta has helped make the Canadian-produced
show one of the most successful in the US as well.
Peta (not to be confused with the organization for
the ethical treatment of animals) made cameo appearances
in 1997, in Raw is War. She has also appeared in the
1998 film One of Our Own and Mercy, 2 years later, directed
by her then-boyfriend Damian Harris.
When not fighting crime on La Femme Nikita, Peta enjoys
outdoor activities such as scuba diving, swimming, playing
cricket, and gardening, and engages in alternative medicine
like yoga and acupuncture.
Peta also funds causes that are important to her; she
is presently working on founding a Julliard for disadvantaged
children, and is raising money with her company, Psycht,
which sells sunglasses, running shoes, watches, and
other accessories. Peta has also founded a production
company called Sweet Lick Productions.
While shooting La Femme Nikita in Toronto, Canada,
Peta shares an apartment with her grandmother, in addition
to her home in the Hollywood Hills. She is no longer
dating Harris, although she was linked to Russell Crowe
(then again, who hasn't?).
After smaller television projects like A Girl Thing
(starring Elle MacPherson and Kate Capshaw) and Other
People, the sexy Nikita star will next appear in the
made-for-TV film Joe and Max.