Peta Wilson Biography

Peta Gia Wilson (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian actress, lingerie designer and model. She is best known as Nikita in the television series La Femme Nikita.

Biography

Early life

Wilson was born in Sydney on 18 November 1970. She is the daughter of the caterer Karlene White Wilson and Darcy Wilson, a former Warrant Officer in the Australian Army. She spent several years in Papua New Guinea, when her father was stationed there. Her parents' marriage came to an end in 1982.

Career

Wilson worked first as a model in Australia and in Europe, before she moved to Los Angeles in 1991 to study acting with Arthur Mendoza at the Actors Circle Theatre and with Tom Waits at the TomKat Repertory Group. After five years of education in acting, Wilson was hired for some small roles in independent films, such as in Naked Jane and in Loser. Then, in 1996, Wilson was preparing to continue her studies at an acting school in New York City, but she decided to audition first for a new television show to be produced for the USA cable TV channel in North America. From a field of just over 200 aspiring actresses who auditioned for the starring role, the new program's producers chose to offer the job to Wilson, and she accepted. This new show was called La Femme Nikita, based on the French action thriller movie Nikita (1990).

Each episode was one hour long and the series was produced by a combination of Canadian and American companies. The show ran for five years and 96 episodes on the USA network. There were 22 episodes per season for four years, and another eight episodes in its fifth and final TV year. Most of the episodes of La Femme Nikita were filmed in and around the city of Toronto, Ontario. Wilson's co-stars in this TV series were the actors Roy Dupuis, Don Francks, Alberta Watson and Eugene Robert Glazer. For her acting in La Femme Nikita, Wilson was nominated twice for the annual Gemini Award for "Best Performance by An Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role", though she did not win.

In 2001 Wilson took part in the International Film Festival in Moscow, where she met with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who confessed to being a fan of hers. She portrayed real-life actress Anny Ondra in the television movie Joe and Max (2002). She also starred as the vampire Mina Harker in the 2003 film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. During 2006 she appeared on an Australian TV mystery anthology drama Two Twisted and had a small role in the movie Superman Returns as the character "Bobbie-Faye", a spokeswoman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States. In 2009 she starred in an Australian independent film Beautiful. She guest starred on CSI: Miami (2010) and The Finder (2012).

In 2013, she received the Best Actress Award at the Cinerockom International Film Festival for her performance as CIA agent Marla Criswell in a short film called Liberator.

In 2012, she launched a lingerie label named Wylie Wilson, with a flagship store in Los Angeles, California.

Personal life

Wilson lived with her long-time boyfriend, director Damian Harris, from 1997 until their separation in 2000. Their son, Marlowe Harris-Wilson, was born in February 2000.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	'	Girl of His Dreams
1995	Naked Jane	Marissa
1996	Loser	Alyssha Rourke
1997	One of Our Own	Cpl. Jennifer Vaughn
2000	Mercy	Vickie Kittrie
2003	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	Mina Harker
2006	Superman Returns	Bobbie-Faye
2007	Gardens of the Night	Sarah
2009	Beautiful	Sherrie
2010	Errand boy	Genie	Short
2011	Somewhere Tonight	Girl with something extra	Voice Credited as Vera Lune
2012	Liberator	Marla Criswell	Short
2015	Dutch Kills	Ladye Bishop

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Woman Undone	Receptionist	TV movie
1996	Strangers	Martha	Episode: "Going Without"
1996	Highlander	Inspector	Episode: "Promises"
1997	Vanishing Point	Motorcycle girl	TV movie
1997	La Femme Nikita	Nikita	96 episodes
2001	Other People	Harriet Stone	TV pilot
2001	'	Alex	Mini-series
2002	Joe and Max	Anny Ondra	TV movie
2004	False Pretenses	Dianne/Dee Dee	TV movie
2005	Jonny Zero	Aly	2 episodes: "Bounty", "Diamonds & Guns"
2006	Two Twisted	Mischa Sparkle	Episode: "A Flash Exclusive"
2009	Malibu Shark Attack	Heather	TV movie
2010	CSI: Miami	Amanda	Episode: "Sudden Death"
2012	The Finder	Pope	Episode: "Little Green Man"

Awards and nominations

Year	TV Show	Award	Result
1998	La Femme Nikita	Gemini Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role
1998	La Femme Nikita	OFTA Television Award Best Actress in a Cable Series
1998	La Femme Nikita	Saturn Award Best Genre TV Actress
1999	La Femme Nikita	Gemini Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role
2003	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	Saturn Award Best Supporting Actress

Bibliography

• Heyn, Christopher. "A Conversation with Peta Wilson." Inside Section One: Creating and Producing TV's La Femme Nikita. Introduction by Peta Wilson. Los Angeles: Persistence of Vision Press, 2006. 66-74. . In-depth conversation with Peta Wilson about her role as Nikita on La Femme Nikita, as well as her approach to acting.
• Connolley, Dawn. "Nuthin' Fancy Luv, I'm Australian." La Femme Peta: The Unauthorized Biography of Peta Wilson. Toronto, ECW Press, 2000. 1-32. . Unauthorized biography of Peta Wilson culled from various pre-published sources.
• Edwards, Ted: "La Femme Nikita X-Posed: The Unauthorized Biography of Peta Wilson and Her On-Screen Character". Prima Lifestyles, 1998, .