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 prot?g? 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.