Barbara Carrera

The magnetism that came from Nicaragua

Barbara Carrera was never destined to go unnoticed. By 1970, she was already earning a thousand dollars a day as a model with the Eileen Ford agency in New York. She had a gaze that intimidated photographers and a Nicaraguan passport that Hollywood didn't quite know where to place.

But she wanted more than posing for haute couture magazines.

Her first significant role came with Puzzle of a Downfall Child. It was a modest debut, but it helped casting directors take notice of her profile. Back then, studios were looking for faces that didn't seem to come from a suburb of Ohio.

Then came The Island of Dr. Moreau in 1977. She shared the bill with Burt Lancaster and held her own in a difficult production. Carrera always had a physical presence that outshone her male co-stars.

The Risk of Being Fatima Blush

Her biggest moment of impact came in 1983. Playing the villain Fatima Blush in Never Say Never Again put her on the global map instantly. She wasn't the typical helpless Bond girl, because her character reveled in chaos and violence.

She earned a Golden Globe nomination for that role as an electric killer. It was the first time an actress from a James Bond film received such recognition for her acting. But the femme fatale label began to weigh on her far too soon.

The industry typecast her quickly.

In 1983, she also starred in Lone Wolf McQuade alongside Chuck Norris. The film performed well at the box office and reinforced her image as a woman not to be trifled with. Carrera tried to pursue different projects, but the scripts that landed on her desk kept repeating the same pattern of exoticism and danger.

The final refuge on canvas

In 1985, she joined the cast of Dallas to play Angelica Nero for a full season. She earned generous paychecks, and her presence boosted the show's ratings. But eighties television didn't offer the nuance she was looking for in her career.

Little by little, her appearances became less frequent by her own choice. She took part in mid-budget films and some projects that did not do justice to her talent. So she decided it was time to reclaim her true passion from her youth.

Carrera threw herself into painting with an obsessive devotion. Her works began to be exhibited in prestigious galleries, and the art market embraced her with genuine respect. In 2004, she shot her last film, titled Paradise.

Since that year, she has lived out of the media spotlight at her residence in Los Angeles. She doesn't give interviews about her private life or take part in nostalgic events about action cinema. Her paintings sell for thousands of dollars in private collections across Europe and the United States.