Franka Potente

Franka Potente
Franka Potente, October 2005
Born	July 22, 1974 (1974-07-22) Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Other names	Franke Potente
Occupation	Actress Singer
Years active	1995–
Children	Polly (b. April 2011)
Website
http://www.franka-potente.org

Franka Potente (born July 22, 1974) is a German film actress and singer. She first appeared in the comedy After Five in the Forest Primeval (1995) and gained critical recognition in the action thriller Lola rennt (released in English as Run Lola Run) (1998). Potente received Germany's highest film and television awards for her performances in Run Lola Run and Opernball. After half a decade of critically acclaimed roles in German films, Potente went on to garner the role of Barbara Buckley in Blow (2001) and as Jason Bourne's love interest in the Bourne film series.

Early life

The elder of two children, Potente was born in Münster, and raised in nearby Dülmen. Her mother, Hildegard, is a medical assistant, and her father, Dieter Potente, is a teacher. Her Italian surname stems from her great-grandfather, a Sicilian slate mason who emigrated to Germany during the 19th century. At age 17, she spent some months as an exchange student in Humble, Texas, United States.

Career

After finishing high school in Germany, Potente enrolled at the Otto Falckenberg School of Performing Arts in Munich. Potente took acting jobs outside school time and appeared in her first movie in the 1995 student film Aufbruch. She was then spotted by a casting agent and appeared in the film Nach Fünf im Urwald (It's a Jungle Out There), 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 then finished her last year of training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan.^{[citation needed]}

Potente returned to Europe and worked in 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 popular 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 also directed by Tykwer.

Potente's first English-language role was that of film editor in Storytelling in 2001. This was followed by a role in Blow, with Johnny Depp, and the female lead in The Bourne Identity, with Matt Damon, which she reprised in The Bourne Supremacy. In 2006, she starred with 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 the FX drama The Shield, where she played Diro Kesakhian, "the ruthless godmother of L.A.'s Armenian mafia".

In 2009, she appeared in the House television series two-part episode "Broken". In January 2011, she played Hilda in a BBC drama The Sinking of the Laconia.

Personal life

In 2008, she was engaged to an American businessman; however, in September 2009, the couple separated and the engagement was called off. In April 2011, she gave birth to a daughter.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	After Five in the Forest Primeval	Anna	Bavarian Film Award – Best Young Actress
1997	Coming In	Nina	Television film
1998	Opernball	Gabrielle Becker	Television film Bavarian TV Award – Best Actress
1998	Run Lola Run	Lola	Bambi Award – Best Actress
1998	Bin ich schön?	Linda
1999	Downhill City	Peggy	Television film
2000	Anatomy	Paula Henning
2000	Princess and the Warrior, TheThe Princess and the Warrior	Simone 'Sissi' Schmidt
2001	Blow	Barbara Buckley
2001	Storytelling	Editor
2002	Bourne Identity, TheThe Bourne Identity	Marie Helena Kreutz
2002	All I Want	Jane
2003	I Love Your Work	Mia
2003	Blueprint	Iris Sellin/Siri Sellin
2003	Anatomy 2	Paula Henning
2004	Bourne Supremacy, TheThe Bourne Supremacy	Marie Helena Kreutz
2004	Creep	Kate
2005	Elementary Particles, TheThe Elementary Particles	Annabelle
2006	Shield, TheThe Shield	Diro Kesakhian	TV series. 3 episodes
2006	Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt		Silent black-and-white movie, written and directed by Franka Potente
2007	Romulus, My Father	Christine Anna Gaita (née Dörr)
2007	Bourne Ultimatum, TheThe Bourne Ultimatum	Marie Helena Kreutz	Flashbacks only
2007	Eichmann	Vera Less
2008	Che	Tamara "Tania" Bunke
2008	Bridge, TheThe Bridge	Elfie Bauer
2009	Pope Joan	Joan
2009	House	Lydia	TV series, episode "Broken"
2010	Psych	Nadia	TV series, episode "One, Maybe Two, Ways Out"
2010	Shanghai	Leni
2011	Sinking of the Laconia, TheThe Sinking of the Laconia	Hilda Smith	Television film - BBC Productions
2012	Copper	Eva Heissan	TV series, main cast

Discography

Singles

• "Believe" (1998)
• "Wish (Komm Zu Mir)" (1998)
• "Easy Day" (1999)
• "Fly With Me" (2001)

Author/books

• 2005: Los Angeles - Berlin. Ein Jahr
• 2006: Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt, Drehbuch zum Film
• 2009: Kick Ass - Das alternative Workout
• 2010: Zehn: Stories

External links

• Franka Potente at the Internet Movie Database