Table of Contents
- 0.1 She took over the role from Anne Parilard
- 0.2 No dizzying career was waiting for her, she started designing clothes
- 0.3 Questions about Putin
- 0.4 She was happy for the new Nikita
- 1 * Peta Wilson’s decision to step away from acting at the height of her “Nikita” fame was unconventional. What personal values and priorities might have influenced this choice?
Peta Gia Wilson was born on November 18, 1970 in Sydney, Australia. Mother Karlene White Wilson ran a catering company and father Darcy Wilson was a Warrant Officer in the Australian Army. Thanks to him, she spent several years in Papua New Guinea as a child, where he served as a soldier for a while. But the parents divorced already in 1982. Peta already went to a general Catholic school in the third largest Australian city, Brisbane. Both she and her brother Rob were encouraged to play sports by their father from an early age. Thanks to this, the future actress became the youngest and at the same time the best player in the Australian basketball league in high school. Thanks to her height, she had a good chance of establishing herself on the fashion catwalk. She soon started modeling for Australian magazines and soon established herself as a model in Europe as well.
In 1991, she decided to seek her fortune in America and moved to Los Angeles. There she began studying acting with Arthur Mendoza at the Actors Circle Theater and with Tom Waits at the TomKat Repertory Group. After several years of acting training, she got her first small roles in independent films, which, however, were not particularly successful.
She took over the role from Anne Parilard
In 1996, she was preparing to continue her studies at an acting school in New York, but decided to first audition for a new television series that was being produced by Canadian and American companies for American cable television. More than two hundred actresses applied for the main role, but Peta won the audition. The series was called Brutal Nikita and was based on the 1990 French action thriller of the same name, starring Anne Parillaud.
The main character, this time played by Peta Wilson, is accused of murder, contrary to the film model, unjustified, and then, after a mock execution, finds herself inside a super-secret organization whose mission is to fight terrorism and terrorist factions. For Nikita, this means a ruthless struggle for her own existence within a society whose practices are in no way different from the organizations she is fighting against.
Photo: katth07/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY
Peta Wilson in 2004
The series had a specific atmosphere, complemented by an interesting choice of music. After the originally planned four series aired, fans of the series wrote a petition for its continuation. The production listened to them and filmed one more final fifth season. The series ended up running for five years and had ninety-six episodes. Most of them were filmed in and around Toronto. In addition to Peta Wilson, the story also featured Roy Duquis, Don Francks, Alberta Watson and Eugene Robert Glazer. Peta herself has been nominated twice for the annual Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Series.
No dizzying career was waiting for her, she started designing clothes
Unfortunately, after this series, she did not experience great acting success. Although she got the role of the vampire Mina Harker in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen alongside the star Sean Connery or a small part of NASA spokeswoman Bobbie-Faye in the film Superman Returns, her career did not rise even thanks to these films. It is interesting to note that in 2002, Peta turned into the Czech actress and Schmeling’s partner Anna Ondráková in the TV movie Souboj o vce, which is about the professional boxer from Harlem Joe Louis and his German opponent Max Schmeling.
The once popular actress Nikita last appeared in the film in 2015 and on television in 2022.
But Peta did not rely only on her acting career. In 2012, she founded the underwear brand Wylie Wilson with a flagship store in Los Angeles. “Wylie is from the word wiles, which is an old French word that basically means clever, cunning, cunning… A little mystical, magical… something I think we all need to be at times. Especially when you’re trying to do something new that’s been done a million times before,” explained Peta at the time, the first part of her brand name. Few people know that she has always been close to fashion. She designed most of the creations from her famous series herself, it is not so surprising that she began to focus on this field at the time of her fading career.
Questions about Putin
Today, the actress is also the mother of an adult son, Marlow, who was born from a relationship with director Damian Harris, with whom the actress lived between 1997 and 2002. In 2007, it became known that her new partner is the New Zealand-Australian actor Aaron Jeffery, but even this relationship is long gone.
At the beginning of the millennium, namely in 2001, the actress’s relationship with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was shaken a lot. In the aforementioned year, the actress was one of the guests of the International Film Festival in Moscow. Together with others, she participated in the official events of the festival, including a dinner hosted by festival president Nikita Michalkov in his home. Many of the guests were very popular people, but the highlight of the program was the arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The guests could then notice that the Russian politician paid special favor to the young actress. However, they did not emphasize this fact at the time. She became known only after Peta herself decided to tell one of the journalists about the dinner.
Foto: Kremlin.ru/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 4.0
Peta and Putin in 2001
At a dinner at director Michalkov’s house in Nikolina Gora settlement near Moscow, she was among the other guests together with her friend Damian Harris. The Russian president immediately caught her attention, she was delighted by his gallantry and struck up a conversation with him. Putin should have told her that he is a long-time fan of hers and admires her role in the TV series Nikita. While he was talking to Peta, his security was supposed to escort her boyfriend out of the room. Putin was also supposed to give Peta a diamond necklace as a sign of admiration. It is said that Peta was actually ashamed and worried about her boyfriend.
However, Russian journalists immediately responded to the actress’ description of the events, calling her claims exaggerated. The actress was allegedly drunk, started flirting with Putin on her own, and it was only a polite conversation on his part. In the end, security had to take her out in a broken state. Nikita Mikhalkov also revealed the secret of the alleged diamond necklace. In fact, it was supposed to be just a pendant that Putin presented to the actress on behalf of the jewelry company Mercury in the presence of all the guests. He himself was only the intermediary of the gift, not the originator. As it was later stated, none of the reporting newspapers had the best reputation, so no one knows what really happened at that time.
She was happy for the new Nikita
In 2010, the new crime series Nikita saw the light of day, which revived the well-known original. Peta Wilson did not appear in it this time. The main role went to Maggie Q. But the success of the original series did not happen this time. At the time, journalists asked Pete what he said about the new remake. “I haven’t watched it, so I can’t really answer that honestly. I don’t really care. I had my time in this role, and when I finished the job, I left America and came home, built a house and had a child, and I didn’t want to work for a while,” the actress honestly answered at the time. On the other hand, she also said that she was pleased with Nikita’s revival: “We all have to be fighters at times in our lives, and I think she’s an iconic character. I don’t remember all the things like who she was, what she was like, but she’s very iconic, just like James Bond and Mad Max. I tell all the fans that I am very happy that they have another Brutal Nikita, that they have something to look at again.”
Today, the fifty-four-year-old actress lives a contented and peaceful life in her native Australia and devotes herself primarily to her fashion brand. But she doesn’t neglect herself either. She practices yoga, goes to acupuncture and meditates. It probably also makes him look very good for his age.
* Peta Wilson’s decision to step away from acting at the height of her “Nikita” fame was unconventional. What personal values and priorities might have influenced this choice?
## Open-Ended Questions for Discussions about Peta Wilson’s Life and Career:
**I. Early Life and Career Beginnings:**
1. Peta Wilson’s childhood exposed her to diverse cultures and opportunities. How do you think her experience growing up in Australia and Papua New Guinea influenced her path to becoming an actress?
2. The article mentions Peta’s athletic background and her early success in basketball. Do you think this experience played a role in shaping her discipline and perseverance as an actress? How might these traits have served her both on and off the screen?
3. Peta Wilson transitioned from modeling to acting. What are the potential challenges and advantages of navigating these two distinct creative fields?
**II. “Nikita” and its Impact:**
1. “Brutal Nikita” is considered a cult classic. What aspects of the show do you think contributed to its lasting appeal?
2. The article mentions Peta’s nomination for Gemini Awards for her role as Nikita. How important are awards and accolades in validating an actor’s performance?
3. Peta Wilson stepped away from acting after “Nikita” achieved success. How do you interpret this decision? What factors might contribute to an actor choosing to take a break from their career?
**III. Post-“Nikita” Career and Entrepreneurial Endeavors:**
1. While Peta Wilson didn’t achieve the same level of fame after “Nikita,” she starred in films alongside iconic actors like Sean Connery. What does this suggest about the unpredictable nature of Hollywood success?
2. The article highlights Peta’s creative pursuits beyond acting, such as her fashion brand Wylie Wilson. Why do you think she chose to launch her own brand? How can pursuing diverse creative outlets contribute to personal and professional fulfillment?
**IV. Personal Life and Reflections:**
1. The article mentions Peta Wilson’s relationship with Vladimir Putin in 2001. This encounter sparked controversy and conflicting accounts. How do media portrayals of celebrities influence public perception and understanding of events?
2. Peta Wilson expressed contentment with the “Nikita” reboot, despite not participating. How do your views on remakes and reboots tie into your understanding of artistic legacy and creative reinterpretation?
**V. Legacy and Future:**
1. Peta Wilson’s career trajectory deviates from the typical Hollywood success story. What lessons can aspiring artists learn from her unique path?
2. How do you think Peta Wilson wants to be remembered? What is her lasting legacy within the entertainment industry and beyond?
