Irina Pantaeva

Irina Pantajewa (Russian Ирина Пантаева; born October 31, 1967 in Ulan -Ude, USSR, now Russia) is a Russian photo model and actress from minority ethnic Buryat in Siberia.

Her first major commitment she received in the early 1990s by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, after she worked as a runway model in haute couture shows for designers such as Christian Dior, Gianni Versace and Vivienne Westwood. Pantajewa was repeatedly Cover Girl of Vogue and in 1998 the first Asian model in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

In 1998, she published her autobiography Siberian Dream, as my way appeared in Germany in 1999 on the world's catwalks. This resulted in an eponymous documentary, which was in 2004 awarded a Cine Golden Eagle Award.

As an actress Pantajewa has appeared in television series and feature films, including the film version of As Far As My Feet Will Carry (2001), in which she plays the shaman's daughter Irina, who met Clemens Forell in his flight. In 1997 you could Irina Pantajewa in the fantasy action adventure Mortal Kombat 2 - Annihilation admire in the role of Shao Khan's decoy Jade on the TV screen. In 2003, Irina Pantajewa part in a casting for the successfully running in Los Angeles play Jewtopia and was selected for a New York production for the role of Rachel Kahn. The off-Broadway comedy opened on 21 October 2004 at the Westside Theatre, where it ran until 29 April 2007.

Irina Pantajewa is married to the Latvian photographer Roland Levin, whom she had met in Moscow in 1988. They have two sons. Today, she designs her own in New York City jewelry collection Irina.