Natasha Pavlovich

Natasha Pavlovich is a Serbian-American business woman and Hollywood actress. She is a former model who participated and won in beauty pageants. Pavlovich represented Yugoslavia in the Miss Universe 1991competition where she reached the semifinals. She also appeared in various films and national prime time television shows. Recently, Pavlovich was featured in the HBO Max docuseries, The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin.
==Background==
Pavlovich was born in Yugoslavia and raised in Popovi, a village in the Bijeljina municipality of Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is a descendant of the Pavlovic noble family. During her childhood, her family relocated to Chicago, USA. She subsequently moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career. Pavlovich completed her studies in the English Language at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has a daughter with longtime partner and ex-fiancé Joe Lara.
Pavlovich holds a pilot's license and has notably co-piloted a MIG-25 to an altitude of 87,000 feet, making her the first Serbian woman to do so. She serves as a spokesperson for the city of Slobomir, a town in Republika Srpska, which was founded by her aunt and uncle. 
==Career==
===Beauty pageants===
In 1989, Pavlovich won the title of Miss Beverly Hills. She was crowned Miss Yugoslavia in 1991, later representing the country in the Miss Universe pageant held in Las Vegas, progressing to the semifinals.
===Film and television===
Starting in 1987, Pavlovich pursued professional acting in Hollywood, taking on roles in television dramas, sitcoms, and films. She has appeared in over 60 episodes of various television series, where her roles have included characters of Russian, Romanian, Iraqi, and Czech backgrounds. Noteworthy television roles include her portrayal of Marina Oswald Porter on a two-part special of Quantum Leap, as well as roles on Judging Amy, Nip/Tuck, Cybill, JAG (TV series), and The Agency (2001 TV series). After her work on the Paramount Studios show, Wings, Disney/NBC Studios cast her in a regular role in the series Pride and Joy Pavlovich also worked with director Blake Edwards on the feature film Son of the Pink Panther, and appeared in the films The Naked Truth and Space Warriors. She had a regular role in the Serbian drama series Gorki Plodovi (Bitter Fruit in Serbian), playing an ophthalmologist.
In a documentary series helmed by acclaimed director Marina Zenovich and produced by Campfire Films, Nile Cappello, with Co-Executive production by Chrissy Teigan, Pavlovich provides her account of her relationship with Joe Lara, his marriage to Gwen Shamblin Lara, and the subsequent legal dispute between Pavlovich and Lara over the custody of their daughter.
==Legal controversy and news appearance==
In 2015, Lara petitioned the court for sole custody of their daughter, alleging that Pavlovich had sexually abused the child. The court, however, found these accusations to be baseless. The custody trial began in 2016, with Pavlovich representing herself. In 2020, the court granted both parties equal custody of their daughter. Following Lara's death in 2021, Pavlovich was awarded full custody and all decision-making rights.
The 2021 Percy Priest Lake Cessna Citation crash, which resulted in the deaths of Pavlovich's ex-fiancé Joe Lara, his wife Gwen Shamblin Lara, and five other passengers associated with the Remnant Fellowship church, drew significant media attention to Pavlovich. In the crash's aftermath, Pavlovich was concerned that her daughter may have been on the plane with Lara. A 911 call recorded during this period reveals Pavlovich urgently seeking information about the plane's passengers and trying to establish contact with the child's father. Despite managing to contact Lara's mother, Pavlovich received vague information regarding her daughter's location. She was eventually reunited with her daughter at a gathering point for children who had lost parents in the crash. 
==Filmography==
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes 	Reference
1992 	Quantum Leap 	Marina Oswald 	TV series (season 5)	
1992 	The Naked Truth 	Miss Bolivia 	Comedy 	
1992-1993	Down the Shore 	Marishka 	Sitcom TV Series 	
1993 	'Son of the Pink Panther' 	Rima 	Comedy 	
1993 	Martial Outlaw 	Mia Antonova 	Martial arts film 	
1995 	'Pride and Joy' 	Katya 	TV Series 	
1995 	Cybill 	Marina 	TV Series 	
1995-1998	JAG (TV series) 	Lieutenant Dumai/Rusza 	TV Series 	
1997-1999	Night Man (TV series) 	Petra 	TV Series 	
2001-2002	The Agency (2001 TV series)	Tanja / Tanja (segment "Deadline")	TV Series 	
2004 	Judging Amy 	Claire Swaime 	TV Series 	
2004 	Nip/Tuck 	Hannah 	TV Series 	
2008-2009	Bitter Fruits 	Dr. Pavlovic 	TV Series 	
2013 	Space Warriors 	Russian Tech #1 	Science fiction 	
2021 	The Way Down (TV series) 	Herself 	Documentary 	
 
Category:Serbian American
Category:Businesswomen
Category:Actresses
Category:Models