Franka Potente

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Franka Potente

Born July 22, 1974 (1974-07-22) (age 33)
Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

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 in leading and supporting roles in a variety of low-budget and major studio films, ranging from romantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

The elder of two children, Potente was born in Münster[1], North Rhine-Westphalia, and raised in nearby Dülmen.[2] Her father, Dieter Potente, is a teacher, and her mother, Hildegard, is a medical assistant.[3] Her Italian surname stems from her great-grandfather, a slate mason who came from Sicily to Germany during the 19th century. At the age of seventeen she spent some months as an exchange student in Texas.[4]

[edit] Career

After finishing high school in Germany, she enrolled at the Otto Falckenberg School of Performing Arts in Munich. Potente took acting jobs outside school time and appeared in her first film in 1995, a student film entitled Aufbruch. She was subsequently spotted by a casting agent and appeared in the film Nach Fünf im Urwald (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 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 film production, it was a big success in Europe. Franka Potente also performed on the soundtrack. She made several more German-language films, including the horror film, Anatomy and the romantic thriller, The Princess and the Warrior.

Her first English-language role was that of the narrator in Storytelling in 2001. 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. In 2006, she starred opposite Eric Bana in the Australian film Romulus, My Father, for which she was nominated for an Australian Film Industry Award for Best Lead Actress. Also in 2006, she wrote and directed Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt, a silent comedy.

Starting on May 22, 2007, Potente had a three-episode recurring role in FX drama The Shield, where she played Diro Kesakhian, the ruthless Godmother of LA's Armenian Mafia.[5]

[edit] Personal

When not working on location, she lives in Berlin. She has previously dated American actor Elijah Wood and director Tom Tykwer.

[edit] 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  
The Princess and the Warrior Simone 'Sissi' Schmidt  
2001 Blow Barbara Buckley  
2002 The Bourne Identity Marie Helena Kreutz  
Try Seventeen Jane  
2003 I Love Your Work Mia  
Blueprint Iris Sellin/Siri Sellin  
2004 The Bourne Supremacy Marie Helena Kreutz  
Creep Kate  
2005 The Elementary Particles Annabelle  
2006 The Shield (TV series) Diro Kesakhian  
2007 Romulus, My Father Christina
2007 The Bourne Ultimatum Marie Helena Kreutz Flashback sequences
2008 Guerrilla Tamara Bunke
The Argentine Tamara Bunke

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Potente, Franka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1974-7-22
PLACE OF BIRTH Dülmen, Münsterland, Germany
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH