Linda Kozlowski

Linda Kozlowski: biography

Linda Kozlowski’s life has been unusual: she received fame, recognition, and a husband thanks to one movie. In 1986, an unknown Polish actress gained a role in the American and Australian comedy Crocodile Dundee, the Hollywood classic adventure project. However, the brilliant start did not help her overall career. The woman appeared in two other parts of the crocodile trilogy and left cinematography. Today, she is involved in business and a new relationship that can bring a new residence in Africa.

Childhood and youth

Linda Kozlowski was born on January 7, 1958, in Fairfield, Connecticut. Her parents, Helen Parniawska and Stanley Kozlowski, lived in the United States and had Polish roots.

The girl and her elder brother spent their childhood in the same town where they were born. The daily routine was pretty boring, and Linda amused herself singing. The parents noticed their daughter’s artistic abilities and decided to help her develop them.

As Linda graduated from Andrew Warde High School, she went to New York and enrolled at the prestigious Juilliard School to study drama and opera singing. The actor Val Kilmer studied at the same time at the university, too. Kozlowski finished her education in 1981 and debuted in the off-Broadway’s How It All Began.

Movies

In 1981-1984, the artist participated in many plays. The role of Miss Forsythe in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman was one of the brightest; it was a story about a luckless old salesman who decides to commit suicide to save his family from poverty.

The next year, the director Volker Schlöndorff adapted the play to the screen and invited Linda to play the same role. It was the actress’s full-fledged debut in cinematography; she had only appeared in the TV series Nurse (1982) before. Although Linda’s character was familiar to her, the actress felt nervous and excited. She collaborated with Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich.

At that period, the Australian showman, actor, and TV presenter Paul Hogan and Ken Shadie started working on the story about the crocodile hunter Mick Dundee. Only Hogan’s enthusiasm helped finish the project. The budget was low, and the movie creators had to look for the lead actress among little-known artists.

The director liked the pretty blonde and gave her the part of Sue Charlton, the journalist who came to Australia to write an article about a local hunter, Mick “Crocodile” Dundee, who had a fight with the dangerous creature. Three days at the back of beyond are full of unforgettable adventures.

The movie became immensely popular. Critics analyzed its most breathtaking moments: Mick’s spectacular fight against gangsters, managing a buffalo, and, of course, the episode where Linda was wearing a swimsuit when a giant reptile jumped out of the water and took the photo camera on the woman’s neck.

Paramount that presented the movie in the United States blessed the day when the company signed the contract. Crocodile Dundee grossed $338 million and became the most successful Australian movie in the entire history. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award; Paul Hogan won the Golden Globe, and Linda Kozlowski turned into a top celebrity.

From that moment, she had numerous offers to play lead characters. In 1988, she personified Claire in David Beaird’s comedy Pass the Ammo. The actress collaborated with Bill Paxton: they played a couple who became the victim of a scam preacher and decided to revenge.

The same year, Hogan wrote the script of the sequel of the “crocodile” hit. John Cornell directed the project; Linda and Paul personified the main characters again.

The new story is set in New York: Mick had moved there with Sue. While the journalist is busy with her fact-finding mission, Dundee is bored in the big city. One day, Sue gets herself in trouble: gangsters want her materials and kidnap her. Mick takes his wife to Australia; the mafia is following them. However, Dundee knows every corner of the jungle and gives the criminals a hard time.

Sequels rarely repeat the success of the first part, but Crocodile Dundee II was equally popular; it grossed just a little less, $240 million. Hogan and Kozlowski were even more famous after the new comedy. In 1990, the spouses co-starred in the sentimental comedy Almost an Angel.

Until the late 1990s, Linda appeared in several movies: the biopic Zorn about the famous Swedish artist and sculptor Anders Leonard Zorn, the crime drama Backstreet Justice with Paul Sorvino, and John Carpenter’s thriller Village of the Damned.

2001 brought the third movie about Dundee: Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. The couple has moved to Australia, and new adventures begin.

Mick and Sue bring up their son, Mikey, and yearn their old days. Suddenly, Sue is invited to Los Angeles to work as a special correspondent; the family goes to America, where Mick discovers some scheming in a motion picture studio. The third part grossed about $39 million.

After Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, Linda announced the end of her acting career. She explained her decision in an interview:

“These straight-to-video, schlocky films I was getting were giving me an ulcer, basically because I was the only one on the set that cared about anything... Between that and my biological clock, I decided to give it all away”.

Personal life

Linda married when she was very young; there is no information about the first husband.

As soon as Kozlowski joined the cast of Crocodile Dundee, she fell in love with charming Paul Hogan. He showed his feelings, too, but the problem was that the actor was married. His personal life had been complicated and stormy: the ordinary 18-year-old young man married Noelene Edwards and had five kids together. In 1981, Paul became famous and divorced with his wife. The couple could not stand the separation, though, and reunited the next year.

When beautiful Linda entered Hogan’s life, he divorced again. The actors married in 1990; their son Chance was born in 1998.

The spouses broke up in 2014 due to some irreconcilable disagreement. According to Kozlowski, the divorce was peaceful; they shared custody of their child. Hogan kept all the rights for Crocodile Dundee; Linda received a one-time payment, $6.25 million, and purchased three beaches in Venice.

Present days

Today, Linda Kozlowski is dating Moulay Hafid Babaa, her tourist business partner. In 2017, the lovers were noticed with gold engagement rings; rumors had it the couple married. The artist neither denied nor confirmed the information.

Linda changed her style and had her hair dyed red. The woman looks beautiful, and fans admire how young she appears. The actress shared the secret: cryotherapy.

In 2018, it was revealed that Linda and Moulay were going to leave the USA for the man’s home country, Morocco.

Linda Kozlowski’s net worth is $10 million in 2019.

Filmography

• 1985 - Death of a Salesman
• 1986 - Crocodile Dundee
• 1988 - Crocodile Dundee II
• 1988 - Pass the Ammo
• 1990 - Almost an Angel
• 1993 – The Neighbor
• 1994 – Zorn
• 1994 - Backstreet Justice
• 1995 - Village of the Damned
• 2001 - Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles