Oksana Lada was born in Ivano Frankivsk, the Western region of Ukraine, where she studied to be an economist before emigrating to the U.S. when she was 20. A rare beauty, with stunning, strongly Slavic features, Lada did some modeling after arriving in the U.S. Eventually she segued into acting, having studied both in Ukraine and in the US. Lada first became familiar to national audiences as Irina, Tony Soprano's needy mistress, on the HBO series The Sopranos (1999). Lada (sometimes billed as Oksana Babiy) has also appeared in the New York theater as well, to positive reviews. Lada is fluent in English, Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. Despite her emigration, she retains strong emotional ties to Ukraine, the land of her birth. She currently lives in Manhattan.