Whatever Happened To The Actress Who Played Shaquinna In Almost Heroes?
The 1998 frontier comedy "Almost Heroes" was an unfortunate misfire for all involved. Directed by Christopher Guest in between his mockumentary classics "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show," the film stars Matthew Perry and Chris Farley as, respectively, a sheltered dandy and clumsy outdoorsman racing to beat Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean in 1804. In addition to being a critical and commercial flop, "Almost Heroes" had the added misfortune of being Farley's final starring role, as the "Saturday Night Live" star died several months before the film's release. But despite its lackluster reception, the film has a few bright spots, particularly in its supporting cast of Bokeem Woodbine, Kevin Dunn, frequent Guest collaborators Harry Shearer and Eugene Levy, and model-actress Lisa Barbuscia as Shaquinna, a Native American woman who serves as their ersatz Sacagawea.
Born in New York, Barbuscia made a name for herself in the London music and fashion scenes of the early 1990s, modeling for international brands and releasing a trio of Eurodance singles under her professional name Lisa B. "Almost Heroes" was just her second film role, after the 1995 supernatural erotic thriller "Serpent's Lair." And while playing Matthew Perry's love interest did not catapult Barbuscia to the Hollywood A-list, she has worked consistently over the last 25 years as an actor, singer, author, and activist. Let's take a look at what Lisa Barbuscia has done since "Almost Heroes."
Highlander: Endgame was another nonstarter for Lisa Barbuscia
Lisa Barbuscia's next attempt to jumpstart her film career came two years later with the 2000 fantasy sequel "Highlander: Endgame." The fourth entry in the "Highlander" series, which follows immortal swordsmen who battle for supremacy, "Endgame" attempted to combine the already-contradictory storylines of the first three theatrical releases with the even-more-contradictory storyline of the syndicated television spin-off. Film series hero Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) joins forces with his television counterpart Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) to take on a villain (Bruce Payne) who is consolidating power with the help of a vengeful immortal posse. Barbuscia plays Faith, a member of said posse (alongside pro wrestler Edge and a vastly overqualified Donnie Yen) who was once married to Duncan centuries earlier.
Barbuscia hit the promotional trail with stars Lambert and Paul. The trio even guest-starred on an August 2000 episode of what was then titled "WWF Friday Night SmackDown," sitting ringside for a bout featuring their co-star Edge and appearing in a set of belabored backstage comedy scenes. But while the film fared marginally better than "Almost Heroes," it was by no means either a critical or commercial hit. In the end, "Highlander: Endgame" became better known for what wasn't in the movie than what was. The trailers infamously included flashy VFX shots that were never intended to be in the theatrical cut – moments that promised, if not a better movie, then certainly a more interesting one.
Her most famous film role is also her smallest
"I thought you said she was thin." With those seven words, Lisa Barbuscia forever entered the rom-com bad girl canon. In the 2001 film "Bridget Jones's Diary," based on the hit novel by Helen Fielding, lonely Londoner Bridget (Renee Zellweger) embarks on an ill-advised romance with Daniel (Hugh Grant), the handsome cad who works in her office. Everything seems perfect between them — a little too perfect — but when Daniel is called away from a weekend getaway, Bridget follows him back to his London flat and finds "Lara from the New York office" (Barbuscia) sitting in his bathroom, nude except for a pair of eyeglasses and a strategically placed portfolio.
"Bridget Jones's Diary" was a box office hit, not just in the U.S. but the U.K. as well, where the Texas-born Zellweger's performance won over a naturally skeptical British audience. More than two decades later, it remains the biggest hit of Barbuscia's career and the role she is most often recognized for — despite it being the smallest part of her career, with only two lines (if you count "Hi there" to be a separate line) and about 10 seconds of screen time. "It was a lot of fun doing that," she recalled in a 2009 interview with Charles Oak at the May Fair Hotel, joking (with the smallest hint of bitterness) that Lara from the New York office is the "smallest role I've ever done [and] the only one anyone remembers."
Barbuscia appeared in Keen Eddie and Michel Vaillant
Despite being American-born, Lisa Barbuscia was well into her career before she appeared on any television stateside. In 2003, she made her broadcast network debut in the pilot episode of "Keen Eddie." The short-lived Fox procedural starred Mark Valley ("Days of Our Lives," "Boston Legal") as a hotheaded New York cop who botches a massive drug bust and is sent to London to pick up the pieces of the investigation. There, he teams up with an eccentric Scotland Yard detective (Julian Rhind-Tutt) and playfully spars with the young woman (Sienna Miller before "Layer Cake") from whom he rents a flat. Barbuscia co-starred as the mysterious British femme fatale who blows smoke in Eddie's eyes and leaves him holding the bag when the NYPD raids an empty warehouse.
That same year, she appeared in the French racing adventure "Michel Vaillant." Based on the long-running French comic book and co-written by Luc Besson, the film stars Sagamore Severin as the eponymous hero, the scion of a legendary racing family who puts his life on the line to compete in the grueling 24-hour race at Le Mans. Barbuscia, who comes from a multiethnic background but does not at all identify as Asian, problematically co-stars as Ruth Wong, the duplicitous owner of a rival team called Leader who will stop at nothing to see Michel taken out of the racing game permanently.
Lisa Barbuscia had a star-studded dating life
Keen Eddie and Michel Vaillant were far from the only men in Lisa Barbuscia's life back then. As a glamorous fashion model and singer on the London scene in the early 1990s, she was often found on the arm of many of the era's most eligible (and not-so-eligible) bachelors. She dated Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot, lead singer of the British flash-in-the-pan band Curiosity Killed the Cat, for several years before moving on to filmmaker and lesser royal David Rocksavage, Marquis of Cholmondeley. Barbuscia also spent time with Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza during the years he was playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And those are just some of her confirmed relationships. There were many more that may have been one-time flings, rumors, or just tabloid gossip. In 1991, Barbuscia appeared in the risque video for the Rolling Stones' single "Sex Drive," and speculation flew that she and lead singer Mick Jagger enjoyed a brief affair, despite the fact that Jagger was recently married to longtime girlfriend Jerry Hall. Over the years, she was linked with the likes of Bruce Willis, footballer Jason McAteer (who reportedly broke up with former Spice Girl Mel C for her), and her "Bridget Jones" scene partner Hugh Grant. In 2002, she was spotted in the company of an even bigger (and far more controversial) royal than David Rocksavage: Prince Andrew.
She eventually settled down
When it came to settling down and starting a family, Lisa Barbuscia eschewed the bad boys in favor of a down-to-earth, humble real estate magnate. Anton Bilton is the founder of Raven Property Group and a third-generation developer. He and Barbuscia reportedly met in 2002 at the birthday party of millionaire zoo owner (and Barbuscia's ex) David Aspinall. After a two-year courtship, Bilton took her on an Italian getaway in May 2004 and proposed at dusk in a hotel suite overlooking the Ligurian Sea. Their wedding the following September was a lavish, star-studded affair, attended by supermodel Yasmin Le Bon and her husband, Duran Duran singer Simon, and featured in a cover story for Hello! Magazine.
Since getting married in 2004, Barbuscia has largely stepped back from her acting career (with a couple of exceptions we'll cover below). She and Bilton split their time between a house in the Kensington area of London and Tyringham Hall, an 18th-century estate located just outside the city in Buckinghamshire. They have three sons — Orlando, Noah, and Gabriel — whom they have mostly kept out of the public eye. But while Barbuscia's acting resume may have thinned in the last two decades, she has found new avenues to express herself as a recording artist, author, and philanthropist.
Lisa Barbuscia spent years in the music industry
Lisa Barbuscia's recording career started in the early 1990s, when the clubby, high-energy genre known as Eurodance was still taking shape in raves across the continent. She released three singles under the name Lisa B in 1993 and '94 on the FFRR label. All three were uptempo dance numbers with elements of house and new age, consistent with the FFRR sound at the time. The tracks all did reasonably well in England, peaking in the 30s and 40s on the U.K. charts, but did not make a dent stateside.
A decade later, Barbuscia released her debut — and to date, only — EP under her full name. 2004's "Telling Tales" is a brief collection from the short-lived label Blossom Recordings. The songs are less dance-driven than her 1990s output, splitting the difference between electronic pop and Dido-esque coffeehouse introspection. "Telling Tales" includes two versions of "Adore You," a track Barbuscia originally recorded in 2001 that was featured in the Jet Li film "Kiss of the Dragon" — the original cut that plays over that film's end credits, and a remix by house producers Elicit. As of November 2023, "Adore You" is Barbuscia's most-played song on Spotify by a wide margin, with over 68,000 streams. None of the tracks from "Telling Tales" charted in either the U.S. or U.K.
She produced and starred in Rabbit Fever
After a few years of undistinguished film and TV roles, in 2006, Lisa Barbuscia stepped behind the camera for the first time, serving as both star and executive producer for the sex comedy "Rabbit Fever." Helmed by TV director Ian Denyer and written by Stephen Raphael, the film is done in a mockumentary format, chronicling the rise of the Rabbit, a vibrator so revolutionary that it threatens to upend British society. Barbuscia stars as Nicky, a self-professed "Rabbit addict" who attends a support group for fellow orgasm obsessives. Tara Summers and Barbuscia's former "Keen Eddie" castmate Julian Rhind-Tutt appear as a couple whose relationship woes can be traced back to that tricky device, while real-life figures like tycoon Richard Branson, actor Emily Mortimer, and feminist author Germaine Greer appear in talking-head interviews as themselves.
Despite the high-profile status of some of its cast and its eyebrow-raising premise, "Rabbit Fever" has largely disappeared from public record. As of November 2023, it's not available to stream on any major service, nor is there a DVD or Blu-Ray in print. The film's overwhelmingly negative reception by critics and audiences may have something to do with that, and the fact that it shares a title with both a 2010 film (an actual documentary about actual rabbits) and a medical condition makes it nearly un-Googleable today. Its longest-lasting artifact, oddly enough, is what appears to be the film's official website, which hosts a grainy rip of the theatrical trailer and a collection of almost entirely negative reviews.
Lisa Barbuscia wrote a self-help book
Over the years, Lisa Barbuscia has evolved her style based on not just prevailing trends, but her own changing life. As a young woman in the 1990s, she was in many ways a quintessential tabloid celebrity: the ever-chic Lisa B, effortlessly glamorous, always at the right parties, dating princes and movie stars. But by the end of the 2000s, Barbuscia was not only a new mother, but a fabulously wealthy member of the landed gentry, and she shifted her public image accordingly. In 2007, she partnered with the now-defunct British maternity store Crave for a line of branded maternity clothes. The next year, she released a book titled "Lisa B: Lifestyle Essentials," aimed at imparting lessons in etiquette, fashion, mindfulness, and clean living.
Not everyone was so keen to receive Barbuscia's wisdom, however. The rise of the "yummy mummy" lifestyle in the late-aughts — serene, stylish, and just so out-of-reach — prompted a backlash in the British media, as writers took aim at the way celebrity parents created undue pressure on real-world mothers. Kathryn Flett, writing in The Guardian, roasted "Lifestyle Essentials" from the cover (featuring Barbuscia in a crisp white shirt) on down, knocking the very notion of a "liestyle" guide written by a tycoon's wife. "I don't have a problem with Lisa per se," Flett wrote. "However, I would quite like to pour a jeroboam of Cristal over the head of whichever fool persuaded her to write a book that nobody in this or any adjacent universe could ever conceivably need or want."
Her last television appearance to date was Above Suspicion
In January 2010, Lisa Barbuscia made what is, to date, her final television appearance with a small role on the ITV police series "Above Suspicion." Ciarán Hinds ("Justice League") and future "Yellowstone" star Kelly Reilly star as a pair of London detectives investigating particularly gruesome murders. The two-part first season (or series, as seasons are referred to in the U.K.) aired in 2009, while the three-part second series, subtitled "The Red Dahlia," aired a year later. In it, a young woman's body is found mutilated in the style of the famous unsolved Black Dahlia murder from the 1940s. After another dead body turns up, the detectives train their suspicion on a prominent local surgeon (Simon Williams) with a sordid past. But as evidence mounts, the doctor's sprawling, incestuous family works to protect him.
Barbuscia makes her appearance in the third part of the series as the doctor's ex-wife, a former exotic dancer who is evidently having an affair with her former stepson. It's a small role, really just one scene of being browbeaten by Hinds' sexist detective and then turning up in some incriminating nightclub photos. But Barbuscia makes the most of her limited screen time, and her character's backstory as a fast-living party girl with a taste for wealthy older men is reflected in her own (albeit far less tawdry) public persona.
Charity work and the red carpet life
Since "Above Suspicion," Lisa Barbuscia has been in semi-retirement from acting, preferring instead to use her resources and reputation in service of charitable pursuits. In 2009, she teamed up with other British celebrity mothers, including her old friend Yasmin Le Bon and TV presenter Tess Daly, to form the charity Mothers4Children, which raises funds for various other child-centric causes and charitable organizations. When not working for children all around the world, Barbuscia has spent the last few years caring for children closer to home — her own, of course, but also others in her unfathomably luxurious social circle. In 2017, she, Le Bon, and '90s supermodel icon Kate Moss became joint godmothers to the son of property tycoon John Hitchcox, complete with a star-studded christening and reception at a private estate in the Cotswolds.
At this point, Barbuscia has spent most of her life surrounded by British high society, whether on the red carpet or her own stately Buckinghamshire home — a far cry from growing up in working-class Brooklyn with a brother who did time on Rikers Island and a sister who's worked as a construction foreman. While on the promotional trail for "Lisa B: Essential Living" in 2008, more than one interviewer compared her unlikely life's path to a fairytale. But Barbuscia is quick to dismiss that kind of Cinderella talk. "That's very nice," she told the Daily Mail in 2008, "but every part of what I've done in my life I've always worked very hard for."