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Franka Potente Profile |
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Birth Date: July 22, 1974
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Birth Place: Dülmen bei Münster, Germany
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Birth Name: Franka Potente
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Height: 5'9"
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Biography |
Franka Potente was born in the German city of Munster on
July 22, 1974, and raised in the nearby small town of
Dulmen. Raised with her younger brother Stefan by their
schoolteacher father and medical assistant mother, Franka's
childhood was a fairly static one: while her father was
occasionally relocated to new teaching posts, they were all
restricted to the Westphalian region of Germany, involving
only moves from one small town to another.
As a high-school student, Franka's personality was
indicative of the occupation she would one day take on; an
outgoing girl, she is remembered by her classmates today as
the class clown, the one who would always be elected as the
klassensprecherin, or class spokesperson. It was perhaps due
to this aspect of her character that a 17-year-old Franka
made the decision to complete her last year of high school
as an exchange student in Houston, Texas.
This experience proved to be a powerful one, as Franka went
on to immerse herself fully in American culture, even
acquiring an American boyfriend who went to Germany with
Franka to meet her parents. It was also in America that
Franka began to pursue an acting career, one that she had
desired since early childhood. Shortly after her arrival
home, she enrolled at the Otto Falkenberg School of
Performing Arts in Munich, beginning her classes in 1994.
Outside of her school hours, Franka sought out acting jobs
on the side, and made her first screen appearance in the
1995 student film, Aufbruch. That same year, after being
approached by a casting agent in the bathroom of a Munich
nightclub, Franka got her first taste of professional work
in the made-for-TV movie Nach Funf im Urwald (a.k.a It's a
Jungle Out There). The film, directed by Franka's then
boyfriend Hans Christian Schmid, was well-received and soon
made its way into theaters. Franka's performance was
critically applauded, and she was awarded the 1995 Bavarian
Film Award for Best Newcomer.
In an echo of her high-school days, Franka completed her
last year of training in the US, taking instruction at the
Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York City. She
returned to Europe in 1997, where she resumed her
professional work in both German and French productions. By
1998, Franka's acting resume boasted appearances in 13 film
and television productions, although she had yet to break
through onto screens outside of Europe.
The movie that launched Franka into the international market
was an unlikely candidate, a small-budget German film whose
initial screenings were restricted, for the most part, to
art-house theaters. The movie's director, Tom Twyker, met
Franka in a Munich cafe in 1997, and it was through this
chance meeting that she was cast in the lead for Run Lola
Run, a role that he had in fact written for her. This first
encounter also led to a relationship between the young
director and actress, one that endured for several years.
After a successful run in Europe, Run Lola Run made its
North American premiere at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival
before hitting the Sundance Festival in 1999. Dubbed by one
critic as "Viagra for the eyes," the fast-paced film was an
instant critical hit, and Franka's warm performance in it
was particularly well-received.
Although the doors to the American film industry had been
flung open for Franka, she chose to continue working in her
native language. After Run Lola Run, Franka appeared in four
German movies, most notably the horror film Anatomy (2000)
and The Princess and the Warrior (2000), another Twyker
project.
Franka made her English language debut in 2001, as the
narrator in Todd Solondz's Storytelling. This film, like Run
Lola Run, was largely restricted to small, obscure theaters,
but that same year Franka reached a larger audience with a
part alongside Johnny Depp in Blow. Franka's role as Depp's
stewardess/drug runner girlfriend was relatively short, but
it caught the attention of American audiences, and gave
Franka an opportunity to demonstrate her grasp of English.
Not long afterwards, she was cast as Matt Damon's love
interest in the highly-anticipated spy thriller, The Bourne
Identity, slated for release June 14th, 2002. In it, she
plays Marie, a woman Jason Bourne (Damon) first kidnaps, but
who then helps him on his run.
While Franka has stated in interviews that it is the script
above all that dictates whether or not she will take on a
role, she has also made it clear that she will not shy away
from high-production Hollywood projects. Along with Madonna
and Isabella Rossellini, Franka will be appearing in Peter
Greenaway's The Tulse Luper Suitcases, which will debut at
the Berlin Film Festival in 2003. North American audiences
will see her next in the romantic comedy Try Seventeen,
co-starring Elijah Wood, who, incidentally, is the rumored
latest object of Franka's affections. |
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Other
Information |
Her last name "Potente" (pronounced Poe-ten-teh) means
"powerful" in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
Education: Otto Falckenberg School, Munich; Lee Strasberg
Theatre Institute, New York.
Her father is a teacher.
Graduated from high-school (German Gymnasium) in 1994.
Says she was discovered as an actress in a public restroom.
She was in a bar when she noticed she was constantly stared
at by some woman. She decided to leave but went to the
restroom before. The woman followed her and again stared at
her through the mirror. Suddenly she asked "How would you
describe yourself in one sentence?". Turns out she was a
casting agent.
Has a brother who is three years younger and was very sick
when he was born. She says she always was very jealous on
the way he was cosseted and that was why she often behaved
like a clown and arranged performances to get more
attention, and that this was why she decided to become an
actress.
Tom Tykwer wrote Lola rennt (1998) specifically for her,
with the intention of casting her as Lola.
In spring 2002, she broke up with longtime boyfriend Tom
Tykwer.
Knows how to fence.
Disliked the strict fitness regimen and diet that were
required for The Bourne Identity (2002).
Has occasionally shaved off her hair after filming movies
because she has wanted time to get her "real" hair back (as
it is dyed or bleached so often for roles).
Speaks fluent French, English and German.
Plays the violin and the flute.
Number 8 in 'Neon' Magazine's list of 100 most important
young Germans. (Issue 1, September 2003)
1998: Named as one of European films 'Shooting Stars' by
European Film Promotion.
1/16th Italian by descent. Her great-great-grandfather was
an Italian roof-tiler, who stayed in Germany.
Shares birthday with Danny Glover, Terence Stamp and John
Leguizamo.
German citizenship.
Member of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in
2005
Was director for the short movie Der die Tollkirsche
ausgräbt (2006) (German title) for the first time 2005. She
also wrote the script.
Wrote her first book "Los Angeles - Berlin. One Year."
together with her good friend, the actor Max Urlacher 2005.
She is Sicilian German. |
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