Career
In 2004, she was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America"s Hall of Fame. She has been nicknamed "the Leading Lady of Billiards" and "the Striking Viking". Laurance has been playing pool since she was 14 years old.
She moved to the United States in 1981 after competing at the New York City World Championships.
In 2005, 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 United States$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." 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.
She continues to introduce herself with the name Ewa Mataya Laurance and also signs autographs retaining the surname Mataya as of February 2014 in her visit to London, Ontario.