Barbara Carrera was born in Managua, Nicaragua on December 31, 1951. Before turning into a sex symbol in the USA she was a top fashion model. On the small screen, Carrera debuted as the Native American Clay Basket in the NBC miniseries "Centennial" (1978-79). She went on to portray Sheva, the woman who does what needs to be done to survive, in "Masada" (ABC, 1981) and starred as "Emma: Queen of the South Seas".

Nicaraguan born, and educated at an American convent, Barbara Carrera has traveled the world over, mastering five languages. Barbara Carrera's exotic film locations, from Africa to Australia, China, Russia, India and South America, and the many people and cultures she has encountered, offer her inspiration for her paintings.

In 1997 at the Presidential Palace in the Office of Arnoldo Alemán, President of the Republic of Nicaragua, screen and television actress Barbara Carrera was appointed Ambassador-at-large for Nicaragua, her native country. In addition to her ambassadorial duties and acting, Miss Carrera is busy with her painting career.

Off screen, the multilingual beauty (she speaks five languages) spends a great deal of time in her studio creating her vivid paintings, which are exhibited in the United States and Europe and collected internationally. A solo museum exhibition of Barbara Carrera's new series of paintings, Hollywood Legends, will be seen April 11 through June 7, 2002 at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum in Hollywood, California.

One of the few top models to successfully make the transition from the fashion pages to the silver screen, Barbara Carrera is an internationally acclaimed actor, artist and cover girl. The Nicaraguan beauty started modeling when she was 15 and has graced the cover of more than 300 magazines, including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and Esquire.

It was while she was on a modeling assignment in the South of France that director Tom Laughlin saw her face on the cover of GQ and launched her film career by casting her in "The Master Gunfighter". The critics were unanimous in their praise for Miss Carrera, and her role garnered her the first of two Golden Globe nominations that she received in her career, as well as being voted "Most Promising Newcomer in a Leading Role" by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Immediately she was offered the part of Victoria, "a kind of glamorous Frankenstein monster" says Barbara, opposite Rock Hudson in "Embryo". Her first international success came in "The Island of Dr. Moreau" with Burt Lancaster and Michael York.

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