Karolina Wydra

Former model Karolina Wydra's exotic presence helped to pave the way for a second career as an actor, playing alluring characters on "House" (Fox, 2004-12), "True Blood" (HBO, 2008-14) and "Wicked City" (ABC, 2015).

Born March 5, 1981 in the Polish city of Opole, Wydra moved with her parents and older brother to Orange County, California in 1992. Five years later, she entered and won a model contest sponsored by Lee Jeans, which led to numerous appearances in print campaigns for Armani Exchange, Calvin Klein and other fashion-related companies.

Wydra made her acting debt opposite George Clooney in a 2006 television commercial for Nespresso, and earned her first acting role two years later in Michel Gondry's offbeat comedy "Be Kind Rewind" (2008). Guest appearances on television series and supporting turns in features like "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (2011) led to Wydra's first substantive role, as Dominika Petrova, an Eastern European immigrant who married Hugh Laurie's Dr. Gregory House in order to earn her green card, on the seventh and eighth season of "House."

When Dominika's storyline ran its course, Wydra segued to recurring role as a vampire on "True Blood" and as a widow who takes up with Walton Goggins' Boyd Crowder in the fifth season of "Justified" (FX, 2010-15). After completing a supporting role in the supernatural drama "Incarnate" (2015) for Blumhouse Productions, Wydra returned to television as a series regular on "Wicked City," playing a detective on the trail of a pair of serial killers.