I didn’t know any German except for “Guten Tag”, “Danke”, “Bitte” and “Eins, zwei, Polizei”, so I attended an intensive language course at the Goethe Institut in Dusseldorf. And if I have already introduced all my colleagues from kindergarten on, here are those alongside whom I tried to learn German (which I hated in the beginning, but which I ended up loving). It was a very pleasant experience, as the group included students from all over the world. To my surprise, I discovered that one of the teachers came from Romania! After that I started sending photos to all sorts of production houses and casting agencies, so eleven months later I played my first part in a German production. It was a short children’s movie (“Die Zaehne des Zauberers”), and, as the greatest coincidence, I played the part of a princess! A month later I was called to audition for a TV series produced by PRO 7. It was called “Glueckliche Reise” and because it was about an aviation team, me being one of the flight attendants (!!!), each episode was filmed in another country. My chance was that I managed to be called before the last three episodes of the series. Unfortunately, I had been in Hong Kong and in Thailand just one year before. But Jamaica was wonderful! The water was very warm, but I was not very happy with the food, because of the coconut, which was present in almost any meal. I was most amused by the locals who, if you asked them for a favour, always answered: “Nooooo problem!” Here I am at a photo shooting in Jamaica, trying to smile even though I was freezing because I had stayed too long in the cold water of a rather superb cascade. In the breaks between shootings, I went to the beach and “relaxed” with a Thai massage! I felt like a frog at a lab experiment as the masseuse pulled and twisted my legs in all possible ways! The truth is that we both had a lot of fun, even though we communicated only through signs and giggles! In Hong Kong, at the entrance to the largest restaurant on water. Every time I see this photo I remember the muscular pain in my right arm caused by trying to eat rice and many other Chinese specials … with chopsticks! La At the 1994 edition of the Golden Stag I met a German producer who offered me to make a maxi CD for me. It was a one time musical co-operation but it awaked my interest in music. I accepted Titus Munteanu’s invitation and shot the video clip in one of the National TV’s studios for a Christmas show, and not by a swimming pool in Germany, as a Romanian newspaper said not so long ago. I don’t want to justify myself, but that was maybe the article with the largest quantity of false information, venom and bad taste of all articles ever published about me. Maybe there will be others, too… I can only hope that the readers realize the true character of those who sign them and won’t take them seriously. As for the respective “journalists”… God help them! In 1995 I enlisted myself at “The Lee Strasberg Institute” actors’ studio in New York, famous for the celebrities who studied there, such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Al Pacino and others. The teaching system is completely different from the Romanian Academy’s. As for the scenery, costumes and books, I can say that our academy is much better provided! The most difficult thing was to get used to the fact that I always had different classmates and teachers, according to the courses I attended. The timetable was posted in school’s corridor where I accidentally met some of the colleagues during breaks. One of them was Conrad, who was also my stage partner in acting classes! Here I am with one of the teachers, two colleagues and a school employee in the school secretariat, where there was also a relaxed atmosphere! I had already been living in Germany for some years when it was proposed to me to become the image of the LUX soap. I was not very drawn by the idea of making commercials, but I accepted, because I found out about the company’s promotion policy to use only big stars such as Brigitte Bardot, Nastasia Kinski and others! I was very surprised and pleased that I was chosen further to a street pole, even though I was no longer a permanent presence on TV! The commercial was nice and I can say that it was successful because even now, some of the people who stop me in the street remind me of it. While in Romania for the shooting of the commercial, I met stylist Sonia Cantuniar and we ended up planning a project that I had been thinking about for a very long time. I noticed how important the promotion and maintaining of beauty were considered in Germany and I came to the conclusion that something like that should also be done for the Romanian women. Magazines where you could find, among others, advice related to makeup were already on the market, but I thought that it was more practical and easier to remember something that you can see, rather than something you read about. I filmed for four days, from dawn till dusk, with a team which included Mark Nava, Viorel Sergovici, Raluca Badea-Thompson, Mirela Gonciulea, Ana-Maria Gorgonetu, Geta Voinea, Cristina Ionescu and Dan Badea (and others whom I ask to forgive me for not mentioning them here, but to whom I want to thank from all my heart for the help they offered). My face was like a piece of cardboard after so much makeup and makeup removal. It was hard, but I was completely absorbed into this project and I am very proud of it! Further to an ad in which PRO 7 was looking for actors, singers, models and photo models, I enlisted in the audition for “Actors” together with 10,000 other contestants. I was selected among the first 50, after that there were only three of us and we each got a part in the German-American joint production where the leading man was Dennis Hopper. The final stage of the contest was made as a grand show broadcasted live from a cathedral in the Netherlands and this was for me a recognition which filled my heart with joy.