Ewa Laurance (aka Ewa Mataya aka the Striking Viking) was born on February 26, 1964 in Gävle, Sweden. She is a Swedish-American professional pool player, most notably on the Women's Professional Billiard Association nine-ball tour. She is also a sports commentator for ESPN.
Laurance is playing pool since she was 14 years old in her native country and moved to the United States in 1983.
She has authored three books related with pool i.e. The Ewa Mataya Pool Guide, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pool and Billiards and Quick Start Guide to Pocket Billiards. She has also written monthly columns for the Pool & Billiard magazine.
In 2004, she was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame.
In 2005, Ewa Mataya Laurance bested three of her peers, WPBA tour members Allison Fisher, Dawn Hopkins, and Gerda Hofstatter, at the Women's Trick Shot Challenge held at the New York Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, pocketing $25,000 as the grand prize.
She has also done modeling for many brands.