Born: September 30, 1947, St. Neots, England
Early days. She was one of the three daughters (with sisters Gaba and Anna) of
Major Count Ludwik Maria Lubienski, owner of family estate at
Kazimiera Wielka, Poland and Chief of the wartime Polish Military Mission in Gibraltar, and of his wife Countess Elzbieta Tyszkiewicz . Her father had led Radio Free Europe in Poland. Lenska is fluent in Polish and English, she is also good in French and Italian with passable German.
From an interview: ".… Ever since I remember I always wanted to be an Actress, I did all sorts of competitions as a teenager, then after school did two years at Drama College and then my first part was in a Francis Durbridge thriller in London's Westend..."
Early career. Her big break was as Little Ladies' band member, "Q", in the British TV series Rock Follies (1976) and its sequel Rock Follies of '77 the following year. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she became famous in the United States and Canada as well for her Alberto VO5 hair products commercials that began with a close-up of her stating: "I'm Rula Lenska". People assumed this was a product endorsement by a celebrity whose name the advertisers expected them to know, but it later was revealed that this was a marketing ploy. It worked, and thus in the United States she became famous for pretending to be famous. Most people in the U.S. were not aware that she had an acting career in the United Kingdom, and believed she was just a model. At any rate, the 'discovery' that she was nobody famous in the U.S. led to the eventual demise of her commercial 'starring roles.'
Film, TV and radio. She has appeared in television series such as Special Branch, Minder, Boon, The Detectives, Footballers' Wives, To the Manor Born, One Foot in the Grave, Casualty, Space: 1999, Return of the Saint, Robin Of Sherwood, The Doctor Who serial, Resurrection of the Daleks and EastEnders. She has presented travel programs for the BBC and has recorded many audiobooks. In the 2005 film Gypo she plays a Roma refugee from the Czech Republic. Lenska’s first major television role was as Q in Rock Follies, Kappatoo II; Cluedo; An Actors Life For Me; Stay Lucky, BBC’s A Design for Living and starred in Watching Me Watching You. Other appearances included The Saint; Private Schultz; The Miser; Take A Letter Mr Jones and Conversations With A Stranger. Lenska made her film debut in Soft Beds, Hard Battles with Peter Sellers and went on to appear in Alfie Darling. She has starred in Fakers and Paradise Grove. Lenska has many radio credits, most recently in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and in Half Name for Half Person. She also has recorded numerous audio books, including The Sun At Midnight, Looking Down, If My Father Loved Me and Ripe For The Picking and narratives about Joy Adamson and Anglia TV’s Survival series. She also narrated the Archive hour for BBC4 entitled Red Runs the Vistula.
Stage roles. She has toured extensively both in the UK and abroad and appeared in several West End shows and in many pantomimes. In 2005, she appeared on stage with the London Gay Men's Chorus for their Christmas Show Make the Yuletide Gay. She sang and danced while also hosting the show at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, the Dome Concert Hall in Brighton and the Barbican Centre in London. Rep seasons include Westcliff and Worcester in The Secretary Bird, Forget-Me-Not Lane, Romeo and Juliet and Ghosts and Titania in a Midsummer Nights Dream at Regents Park Open Air Theatre. National and International tours include: Same Time Next Year, Double Double, Flarepath, and The Real Thing. Other notable stage appearances include J.B. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner in the West End and on tour, Misery; Present From the Past; The Cherry Orchard at the Redgrave; A Little Night Music at Plymouth; Vaclav Havel’s Temptation at the Westminster; Blithe Spirit at the Churchill and Lyric Theatre; a tour of Confusions; Macbeth at Stafford Festival; Our Betters at Chichester Festival Theatre; Dangerous to Know at Theatre Royal Windsor, Churchill Theatre and tour; Pericles at the Ludlow Festival; An Inspector Calls at the Garrick theatre and Masterpieces at Birmingham Rep and on tour. She has also played the Principal Boy in all the major pantomimes. Lenska toured the UK performing the role of Helen Hans in 84 Charing Cross Road.
Personal life. She has been married twice: 1.The actor Brian Deacon (1977 – 1987), with whom she had one daughter, Lara Deacon. 2.The actor Dennis Waterman (1987 –1998). Lenska is a keen conservationist (elephants and dolphins in particular) and has been on several working expeditions including India and Nepal. For the BBC she has done various travel programs to Poland, Thailand and Nepal. Her first book Mammoth Hunt was published in 1997. She has been deeply involved with several animal charities: The Born Free Foundation., The Environmental Investigation Agency, and she is a trustee of “Wildlifeline.
In an interview with The Independent, she described herself as "passionate, romantic and slightly eccentric". She is unfortunately a heavy smoker.
Source:
Wikipedia
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modified with information from other sources:
BBC
Rock Follies
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