Irina Pantaeva  

At six feet tall, Russian born Irina Pantaeva leveraged her height and striking features into a successful career as both a supermodel and actress, breaking into the United States acting scene in 1997. Over the past decade, she is most known for her roles in Mortal Combat: Annihilation, Celebrity, and Zoolander.

Irina Pantaeva was born October 12, 1972 in Ulan-Ude, Siberia, Russia. She is of Buryat ethnicity. She made her onscreen debut in the Soviet Union comedy Vozvrashcheniye Khodzhi Nasreddina in 1989. Her next role would not come until 1996 with the Italian drama Testimone a Rischio.

The following year, she made her debut in a widely distributed film out of the United States. Unfortunately, it was the widely panned Mortal Combat: Annihilation. Playing the character of Jade, her costars included Robin Shou, James Remar, Talisa Soto, and Sandra Hess.

Increasing her visibility, she also appeared for a two-episode stint on Third Rock from the Sun with cast regulars French Stewart, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Jane Curtin, Kristen Johnston, and John Lithgow.

After working in the film business for several years, Pantaeva continued to earn just bit parts. But those bit parts were for increasingly respected films. This was definitely the case with her outing in Woody Allen’s 1998 film Celebrity. Although Pantaeva only had a small role, she acted beside an amazing all-star cast which included Melanie Griffith, Kenneth Branagh, Winona Ryder, Charlize Theron, Debra Messing, Joe Mantegna, Famke Janssen, Bebe Neuwirth, Gretchen Mol, Leonardo DiCaprio, Adrian Grenier, Sam Rockwell, and still others.

In her next project, she took another small role in the Ben Stiller directed Zoolander, a spoof on the world of high end fashion modeling. It starred Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor, Will Ferrell, Milla Jovovich, and Jerry Stiller.

Her most recent film role came in 2002 with Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, Ryan ONeal, and Tea Leoni for the crime drama People I Know.

Pantaeva has also pursued her acting career onstage, most notably with the off-Broadway production Jewtopia.

Translating her supermodel status into social awareness, Pantaeva attended the New York Fashion for Relief event on September 16, 2005. The proceeds went to AmeriCares, which directly benefited victims of Hurricane Katrina. Other celebrities in attendance included Nicole Richie, Beyonce Knowles, Marisa Miller, Kelly Osbourne, Janice Dickinson, Naomi Campbell, and a laundry list of additional attendees.

In her personal life, she met her future husband when she was just sixteen. He is a Latvian photographer named Roland Levin who was born in 1957. They are still together, and they have two sons. Their names are Ruslan and Solongo, born in 1989 and 2003 respectively.

In 1994, Pantaeva relocated to the United States.