Paz de la Huerta

Early life

De la Huerta was raised by her mother, along with her older sister, Rafaela de la Paz (born November 5, 1981), in the New York City neighborhood of SoHo, located in the Lower Manhattan area. Her parents are Ricardo Ignacio de la Huerta y Ozores, the Spanish XVII Duke of Mandas and Villanueva, (born November 17, 1944, in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain) and Judith Bruce (born October 23, 1946, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States). De la Huerta was born with recurrent cystic hygroma under her arm, which she has had treated with multiple surgeries. Her mother worked as an authority on birth control and women's issues in Third World countries. She attended private Saint Ann's School in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, with fellow student and future fashion designer, Zac Posen, for whom she has since modeled. She also attended the performing arts camp Buck's Rock. De la Huerta spent summers with her father in Spain while attending high school.

Career

De la Huerta began modeling in her adolescence and became a runway model before transitioning into film. She made her film debut with a small role in the 1998 romantic comedy The Object of My Affection, and then appeared opposite Michael Caine and Charlize Theron in The Cider House Rules the next year.

In 2002, She appeared opposite Shane West and Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, an American coming-of-age romantic drama film based on the Nicholas Sparks' novel. The film opened at No. 3 at the U.S. box office raking in $12,177,488 in its opening weekend, behind Snow Dogs and Black Hawk Down. Even though not a critical success, it was a modest box office hit, earning $41,281,092 in the United States alone, and a sleeper hit in Asia. The total revenue generated worldwide was $47,494,916.

In 2007, De La Huerta was cast in The role of Linda for the film Enter the Void, a psychedelic melodrama set in neon-lit nightclub environments of Tokyo. Director Gaspar Noé found her after holding auditions in New York City. "I met Paz and I really liked her. She had the profile for the character because she likes screaming, crying, showing herself naked—all the qualities for it." The crew filmed in Tokyo from 19 October to 15 December 2007. Flashback scenes were shot in Montreal over the course of four weeks the following spring, until 16 May 2008.

A 163-minute version of the film competed in the main competition of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Festival screenings of subsequent versions followed throughout the year, including the Toronto, Sitges, London, and Stockholm international film festivals. The final 154-minute cut premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It premiered in France on 5 May 2010 through Wild Bunch Distribution. The Japanese release followed ten days later. Distribution rights for the United States were picked up at Sundance by IFC Films.

Enter the Void holds a 70% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 88 English-language reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 69 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Peter Bradshaw included the film in The Guardian's top 50 films of the decade so far, and gave it five stars out of five. In a 2016 international critics' poll conducted by BBC, three critics listed Enter the Void as one of the greatest motion pictures since 2000.

In 2009, De La Huerta was cast in the HBO pilot Boardwalk Empire, about the rise of Atlantic City during the Prohibition era, as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson's mistress and a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, with no historical basis. On September 1, 2009, HBO picked up the series for an additional 11 episodes. The series premiered on September 19, 2010 and concluded on December 5, 2010. The first season was met with widespread praise. On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the first season scored 88/100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The American Film Institute named Boardwalk Empire one of the ten "best television programs of the year".

Boardwalk Empire was renewed for a second season, with Huerta returning as Lucy. Discussing the second season she said; "The first season was very different from the second season. With the first season, nobody really knew how the show was going to be received. With the second season, we had gotten lots of accolades and great reviews, so it was work, work, work, where we were shooting two episodes at a time." Season two premiered on September 25, 2011 and concluded on December 11, 2011, consisting of 12 episodes. The second season of Boardwalk Empire received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the second season scored 81/100 based on 14 reviews. Another aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, reported 85% of critics gave the second season a "Certified Fresh" rating, based on 13 reviews with an average score of 8/10. After the second season ended De La Huerta and fellow co-stars Michael Pitt, Aleksa Palladino, and Dabney Coleman all departed the cast. An HBO rep declined to comment on the reason, however, it was rumored HBO had opted not to pick up the actress’ Season 3 contract option. It was also rumored De La Huerta was fired from the show due to being intoxicated most of the time she arrived on set. In 2012, She commented on her departure from the series, stating she wanted to put her focus on other things. In 2013, she commented on how she would like to return to the hit series. "I’m still close with the producers. Terry (Terence Winter) always says it’s possible for me to come back." Also adding; "I would love to come back with Lucy as a loving, doting mother."

In 2011, Lana Del Rey, an American singer, received widespread attention when the music video for her single "Video Games" became a viral internet sensation. The music video for "Video Games" was directed and edited by Del Rey. It featured video clips of skateboarders, cartoons and shots from old movies, as well as paparazzi footage of De La Huerta falling down while intoxicated. When asked if she was upset about the video, De La Huerta stated; "No, no. I don't get hung up about anything really. That's insignificant. I didn't really care."

In April 2011, she was sued by MTV reality show actress Samantha Swetra due to a physical altercation between the two. The pair became embroiled in an argument after de la Huerta began flirting with one of Swetra's male friends. De la Huerta became enraged when Swetra made snide remarks about her being intoxicated, and afterwards she allegedly hit the reality star in the face, before throwing a glass at her that shattered and cut her leg. De La Huerta was arrested, criminally charged with assault, issued a desk appearance ticket, and released for the same incident. When asked about the incident, De La Huerta stated; "My lawyer says I’m not allowed to talk about the case. I so wish that I could." "She’s an ex-reality-TV star who’s hungry for publicity. Just go on TMZ and look at her reported bruise. There ain’t no glass in her leg."

In July 2011, de la Huerta signed on to play Abby Russell, the primary antagonist in the horror film Nurse 3D. Principal photography began in Toronto on September 6, 2011 and wrapped on October 21. Following completion, the film was shelved for two years before its rights were acquired by Lionsgate. Critical reception of the film has been mixed; the film holds a 55% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 20 reviews) while also holding a rating of 29 on Metacritic (based on 7 reviews). Much of the film's criticism centered upon the film's script, which Neil Genzlinger commented "doesn’t have any of the wit that a film like this needs to give it campy coolness." A sequel for Nurse had been rumored by de la Huerta on her Twitter page with her stating that Nurse 2 would start shooting soon. However, In 2015, it was reported that de la Huerta was suing the filmmakers, for 'ruining' her career.

In 2014, she completed filming in Las Vegas for the movie Death in the Desert, cast as Margo. The film was directed by Josh Evans. The movie was inspired by the book Death in the Desert by Cathy Scott with the screenplay by John Steppling. The film premiered in October at the Tucson Festival of Films. The same year, she had a supporting role in the Canadian horror film The Editor. Set in the 1970's, A film editor gets embroiled in a string of murders, she played Josephine Jardin, the film editor's mentally-ill wife. The film received a mixed reception, with a 55% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Mark L. Miller of Ain't it Cool News ranked it the 25th best horror film released between Oct 1 of 2014 & 2015, deeming it Astron-6's "most successful and entertaining film to date". She was also briefly seen in a bikini "crashing" an interview in My Scientology Movie the latest film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux.

The next year, De La Huerta played Pepper in the drama film Bare. The film follows a young woman living in a small desert town in Nevada, who becomes romantically involved with a female drifter who leads her into a life of drugs, stripping, and psychedelic spiritual experiences. Director Natalia Leite wanted to cast two women who were willing to be totally raw and exposed on camera in the leading roles. She stated: "I wanted to find two women who were very different from each other to put those two contrasting energies together." The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2015. The film was scheduled to be released in a limited release and through video on demand on October 30, 2015. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 43% of seven surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.9/10. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that de la Huerta was perfectly cast for her role as Pepper, though the film has a "mundane storyline". John Stewart of The Slanted wrote, "The film is an wonderful departure for Glee’s Dianna Agron and her performance with Paz De La Huerta is sure to spark a lot more work in the future for both rising stars."

Personal life

De la Huerta lived with her mother and sister in New York City until her mid-twenties, when she moved into an apartment in the Tribeca neighborhood, later moving to a lower Manhattan apartment adjacent to her mother's. She is a scientologist and made a cameo appearance in the documentary "My Scientology Movie" (2015).