Franka Potente

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Franka Potente
Franka Potente as Lola in 1998's Run Lola Run.
Born	July 22, 1974 Münster, Germany
Notable roles	Lola in Run Lola Run, Marie in The Bourne Identity

Franka Potente (born on July 22, 1974) is a German film actress. She began her career in the comedy It's a Jungle Out There (1995) and gained critical recognition in the action thriller Run Lola Run (1998). After half a decade of critically acclaimed roles in German films, Potente gained Hollywood's attention by playing the role of Barbara Buckley in Blow (2001) and the female lead opposite Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity (2002).

An accomplished dramatic actress, Potente received Germany's highest film and television awards for her performances in Run Lola Run and Opernball. Potente performs predominantly in supporting roles in a variety of low-budget and major studio films, ranging from romantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers. Her most popular films include Run Lola Run, Blow, and The Bourne Identity (2002).

1 Biography
2 Selected filmography
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Potente was born in Münster and raised in Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, the elder of two children. Her father, Dieter Potente, was a teacher and Franka's mother, Hildegard Potente, was a medical assistant. Her family name derives from her great-grandfather, who was from Sicily. She spent her last year of high school, at age 17, as an exchange student in Humble, Texas at Humble High School, where she loved to go to dances and sketch her classmates.

When Potente returned to Germany, she enrolled at the Otto Falkenberg School of Performing Arts in Munich. She took acting jobs outside school time and appeared in her first film in 1995, a student film, called Aufbruch. She was spotted by a casting agent, aged 19, and appeared in the film It's a Jungle Out There, which was directed by her then boyfriend, Hans Christian Schmid. She received the 1995 Bavarian Film Prize for Young Talent for her work in this film. She undertook her last year of training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan.

Potente returned to Europe and worked in many German and French films. She was cast as the lead in the film Lola Rennt, (Run Lola Run), after meeting the director, Tom Tykwer, in a café. The part was written for her and although the film was a small-budget, art house production, it was a big success in Europe. She also sang the main songs used in the film. She made several more German language films, including the horror film, Anatomy and the romantic thriller, The Princess and the Warrior. Her first film in English was Storytelling in 2001, as the narrator. This was followed by a role in Blow, opposite Johnny Depp, and the female lead in The Bourne Identity, with Matt Damon, which she later reprised in The Bourne Supremacy. She has written and directed Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt, a silent comedy.

In July of 2006, news broke that Potente joined the cast of FX Drama The Shield. ^[1] What her role will be in the show is the subject of conflicting reports, but it's likely that it will not be clear until the shows seventh season begins filming in mid 2007.

[edit] Selected filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1995	It's a Jungle Out There	Anna	Bavarian Film Award - Best Young Actress
1997	Coming In	Nina	Television film
1998	Opernball	Gabrielle Becker	Television film Bavarian TV Award - Best Actress
	Run Lola Run	Lola	Bambi Award - Best Actress
	¿Bin ich schön?	Linda
2000	Anatomy	Paula Henning
2000	The Princess and the Warrior	Simone 'Sissi' Schmidt
2001	Blow	Barbara Buckley
2002	The Bourne Identity	Marie Helena Kreutz
2002	Try Seventeen	Jane
2003	I Love Your Work	Mia
2004	The Bourne Supremacy	Marie Helena Kreutz
2004	Creep	Kate
2006	Romulus, My Father	Christina	Post-production
2008	Guerrilla	Tamara Bunke	Pre-production