Pia Zadora (born May 4, 1953 in Hoboken, New Jersey) is an American actress and singer who came to national attention in 1981, when following her starring role in the highly criticized Butterfly, she won a Golden Globe Award as New Star of the Year, while simultaneously winning the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, and "Worst New Star" for the very same performance. Not surprisingly, afterwards it was revealed that her husband essentially provided a vacation for the Golden Globe voters.
Zadora's acting career falls mainly into The '80s, though her career goes back to The '60s when she appeared in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians at the age of eight. Her fifteen minutes of fame ended after The Lonely Lady and she has been fully retired since The '90s. Her last acting appearances were doing a musical performance in The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult and an episode of Frasier five years later.
She in total has no less than four Razzies to her name, including worst new star of the decade and a nomination for worst actress of the century, losing the latter "honor" to Madonna. A apocryphal story claims that while giving an especially unfavorable performance of The Diary of Anne Frank, an audience member shouted "SHE'S IN THE ATTIC!" when the Nazis came on-stage.
She was also a singer and found much more recognition and success in that field. She is now retired from that career as well.
Tropes associated with Pia Zadora's work:
- The '80s: Her acting career and the setting of said films fall mainly into this decade.
- Dawson Casting:
- In Butterfly (1982), she was cast as a seventeen-year-old, although she was 28 at the time of filming.
- Likewise in The Lonely Lady (1983), she played a high-school student at age 29.
- She played a high schooler again in Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984).
- Dull Surprise: A common accusation leveled at her. At least her roles in her most (in)famous films had the excuse for this of being suffering women.
- Girls Behind Bars: Her "Rock It Out" video is set in a women's prison.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Pia stands five foot tall with an extremely petite build. Though she was never deliberately cast as part of a Huge Guy, Tiny Girl duo, any leading man she worked with automatically became this while sharing a screen with her.
- Ms. Fanservice: Both Butterfly and The Lonely Lady have many scenes with her nude.
