Nastassja Kinski

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1981's Nastassja Kinski with serpent.. photographed by Richard Avedon is safe to say her most memorable photo

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Nastassja Kinski photographed by Helmut Newton on the cover of Playboy, May 1983.

Nastassja Kinski (born Nastassja Aglaia Nakszynski, January 24, 1961) is a German actress, best known for her Golden Globe Award-winning portrayal of 'Tess D'Urberville' in Roman Polanski's film Tess (1979) and her parts in Wim Wenders' films Wrong Move (1975), Paris, Texas (1984), and Faraway, So Close (1993).

Career

During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s Nastassja Kinski was widely regarded as an international sex symbol. Her foray into the spotlight began in her native Germany (she was born in Berlin) where she started out as a model. During her teen years she travelled to the U.S.A. to study method acting with Lee Strasberg. In her mid-teens she starred in the British Hammer horror film To The Devil... A Daughter and later won the title role in Tess (1979). Shortly after her on-screen success, legendary photographer Richard Avedon photographed Kinski with a serpent coiled around her naked body which made her a popular icon. In 1982 Kinski appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's film One From The Heart and the movie Cat People, both successful cinematic offerings. Kinski returned to Europe where she continued acting but the films she made through the remainder of the 1980s failed to find an audience. Although critics praised her performance in Paris, Texas, the film was not widely released. Kinski's other movies Unfaithfully Yours opposite Dudley Moore and Hotel New Hampshire opposite Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe did poorly at the box office.

Kinski's luck turned in the 1990s when she appeared in films such as Terminal Velocity opposite Charlie Sheen and Mike Figgis' critically acclaimed One Night Stand. She continues to enjoy a busy, successful career in film and television. She last appeared in À ton image (2004) as the main actress.

Personal life

Kinski is the daughter of the late German actor Klaus Kinski from his marriage to actress Ruth Brigitte Tocki. Her parents divorced in 1968. Kinski rarely saw her father after the age of 10. Kinski and her mother struggled financially. Eventually they ended up living in a commune in Munich. At the age of 13, the German New Wave actress Lisa Kreuzer placed her in the role of the dumb Mignon in Wim Wenders's film The Wrong Move. Kinski appeared nude in this movie and several that followed although she was still a minor. She has since admitted that as a child she felt exploited by the industry and told a journalist from W Magazine, "If I had had somebody to protect me or if I had felt more secure about myself, I would not have accepted certain things. Nudity things. And inside it was just tearing me apart".

At 16, Kinski began a romantic relationship with director Roman Polanski, who was 28 years her senior. Polanski urged her to study acting with Lee Strasberg and went on to cast her in his film, Tess.

In her late-teens Kinski moved in with her friend Demi Moore. She encouraged Moore to leave school and pursue a career as a model and actress.

In the mid-1980s Kinski met and eventually married Egyptian film maker Ibrahim Moussa. Their first child, Aljosha, was born on June 29, 1984 and their daughter Sonia Leila, now a model, was born on March 2, 1986. The marriage had been formally divorced in 1992. From 1991 until 1997 Kinski lived together with music impresario Quincy Jones. On February 9, 1993 their daughter Kenya Julia Miambi Sara was born.

A gifted linguist, Kinski speaks German, English, French, Italian and Russian fluently.

External links

• Nastassja Kinski at IMDb
• Yahoo! Movies - Nastassja Kinski Biography
• Nastassja Kinski Internet Site - Kinski Business by Louise Farr, W Magazine Interview
• Daddy's Girl - The Guardian, July 3, 1999.