|
Franka Potente
Born:
Franka Potente
July 22, 1974,
Münster, Germany
Grew up in Dülmen, Germany
Height: 5'9"
Father: Dieter Potente, a teacher
Mother: Hildegard
Brother: Stefan, three years younger
Former significant other: Tom Tykwer, 35, writer/director of Run, Lola,
Run, and The Princess and the Warrior
Education: Otto Falckenberg school, Munich; Lee Strasberg theatre
institute, New York
Languages: German, French, and English
Vices: coffee and cigarettes
Plays the violin and the flute |
|
 |
|
Born in the German city of Münster in 1974,
Potente grew up in the small-town atmosphere of nearby Dülmen in
the Münsterland region of North Rhine-Westphalia. During the 1991-92
school year, at the age of 17, she lived in Houston, Texas as a
high school exchange student.
Potente was educated at Munich's Otto
Falkenberg Schule and the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. According
to legend, she was "discovered" as an actress by a casting agent
who saw her in a bar, followed her into the restroom, and asked
her to describe herself in one sentence.
Her 1995 performance as the 17-year-old
Anna in Nach fünf im Urwald (After Five in the Jungle) earned
her the Bavarian film award for “Best Newcomer” when she was barely
21. She also received critical praise for her work in several subsequent
German films. But it was her colorful punk look and energetic jogging
and screaming in Lola Rennt (Run, Lola, Run) that
really put her on the international cinematic map.
Most recently, we've seen her in The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy as Matt Damon's lover. |
|
|
"I never consciously said, 'I want to be an
actor.' It sounds stupid, but it's kind of like being a painter
or something. You don't say, 'From today on I'm going to be a painter.'
It's not something conscious -- you've just been painting pictures
all your life."
Some of Franka's favorite things... "Cigarettes, coffee, old
jeans, holidays on little exotic islands, music--Bjork, Sigur Ros,
Morcheeba, Garbage--and just driving around at night."
On getting in shape for The Bourne Identity... "I said, 'Wouldn't
it be great if Matt Damon's character fell in love with a girl with
a real butt?' They were like, 'Yeah sure, sure -- here's your personal
trainer.'"
|
|
