Ewa Laurance (formerly Ewa Mataya, February 26, 1964) is a Swedish professional pool player, most notably on the

Women's Professional Billiard Association The Women's Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) is a professional women's pool tour based in the United States. It was founded in 1976 as the Women's Professional Billiard Alliance by players Madelyn Whitlow and Palmer Byrd, and by Larry Mil ...

nine-ball tour, a

sports writer Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

, and more recently a sports commentator for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. In 2004, she was inducted into the

Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States and Canada, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).` Puerto Rico, though a US territory, and Mexico, though ...

's Hall of Fame.Induction into BCA Hall of Fame 2004
She has been nicknamed "the Leading Lady of Billiards" and "the Striking Viking".

Playing career

Laurance has been playing pool since she was 4 years old. She moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1981 after competing at the World Championships in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Laurance has won numerous major women's pool titles, including the

WPA World Nine-ball Championship The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual professional nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1990. The championship is sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Spor ...

, US Open Nine-ball Championship, WPBA National Nine-ball Championship, International Trickshot Championship and the Swedish and European 14.1 Championships. In 2005, Laurance bested three of her peers,

WPBA Tour The Women's Professional Billiard Association Tour (known as the WPBA Tour) is a series of professional women's pool tournaments first held in 1992. Events on the tour are operated by the Women's Professional Billiard Association The Women's Pro ...

members

Allison Fisher Allison Fisher (born 24 February 1968) is an English professional pool and former professional snooker player. Biography Fisher was born on 24 February 1968 in Cheshunt and grew up in Tonbridge, Kent and lived later in Peacehaven, East Susse ...

, Dawn Hopkins, and Gerda Hofstatter, at the Women's Trick Shot Challenge held at the New York Hotel Casino in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, pocketing

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

25,000 as the grand prize. Animated and expressive, she played to the audience and the cameras, "a true showperson in her element and a wonderful example to all trick shot artists."

Television

She was the co-host of the GSN original game show ''

Ballbreakers ''Ballbreakers'' is an American pocket billiards game show that began on the Game Show Network on July 18, 2005. The hosts were Sal Masekela, Ewa Mataya Laurance, and Adrianne Curry. GSN cancelled the show in 2006. Play The show featured four p ...

''. She has hosted the '' Ultimate Pool Party'' on

. She has also been a model, appearing in

TV commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

for No Nonsense brand pantyhose, and appeared on '' National Bingo Night'' on June 1, 2007. She frequently acts as a color commentator on ESPN telecasts of nine-ball tournaments, usually along with her husband

Mitchell Laurance Mitchell "Mitch" Laurance (born Mitchell Dycoff) is an American film and television actor and sports broadcaster. Early life, family and education Mitchell Dycoff was born in Queens, New York City, New York and raised in Hewlett, New York. He ha ...

. She has recently been featured on commercials featuring Dick's Pawn Shop in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Writing

She has authored three books: ''The Ewa Mataya Pool Guide (paperback,'' ), ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool & Billiards (paperback,'' ), and ''Quick Start Guide to Pocket Billiards (paperback,'' '').'' She has also written monthly columns for ''Pool & Billiard'' magazine.

Personal life

In 1982, at the age of 17, she married the pool pro Jimmy Mataya, fourteen years her senior, forming pool's first power couple. They later divorced, with Ewa retaining the surname Mataya, as she was already professionally well known by this name. They have a daughter, Nikki, born in 1985. In 1994, she married actor Mitch Laurance, later also pool commentator for

and twin brother of actor

Matthew Laurance Matthew Laurance (born Matthew Dycoff) is an American film and television actor best known for starring as Ben Coleman in the Fox sitcom ''Duet'' and for his recurring role as Mel Silver on ''Beverly Hills, 90210''. Early life, family and edu ...

References

External links

Her official web site

"Ewa Mataya Laurance" profile
at the ''

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''
Ewa Laurance instruction column at poolmag.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurance, Ewa Mataya Swedish pool players American pool players Swedish emigrants to the United States Trick shot artists 1964 births Living people Female pool players People from Gävle World champions in pool American sportswomen 21st-century American women Sportspeople from Gävleborg County