Franka Potente

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Franka Potente
MJK 335110 Franka Potente (NRW-Empfang, Berlinale 2019).jpg
Potente in 2019
Born (1974-07-22) 22 July 1974 (age 47)
Münster, West Germany
OccupationActress
Years active1995–present
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2012)​
Children2

Franka Potente (German: [fʁaŋka po.ˈtɛn.tə] (About this soundlisten); born 22 July 1974) is a German actress. She first appeared in the comedy film After Five in the Forest Primeval (1995), for which she won a Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actress. Her breakthrough came in 1998, when she portrayed the titular role in the acclaimed action thriller Run Lola Run, for which she won a BAMBI Award for Best Actress. She received further critical acclaim and a Bavarian Television Award nomination for her performance in the television film Opernball (also 1998).

After half a decade of well-received roles in German productions, Potente made the transition into Hollywood with her role in the biographical crime film Blow (2001), and achieved wider recognition for her appearances in The Bourne Identity (2002) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004). She portrayed communist revolutionary Tamara Bunke in Che (2008), and psychologist Anita Gregory in The Conjuring 2 (2016). Her other notable films include Anatomy (2000), The Princess and the Warrior (2000), Creep (2004), Romulus, My Father (2007), Eichmann (2007), and Muse (2017).

Potente has starred in the television series Copper (2012–2013), Taboo (2017) and currently, Claws. She also played recurring roles in the second seasons of American Horror Story (2012) and The Bridge (2014).

Early life[]

The elder of two children, Potente was born in Münster, West Germany,[1] and raised in nearby Dülmen.[2] Her mother, Hildegard, is a medical assistant, and her father, Dieter Potente, is a teacher.[3] Her Italian surname stems from her great-grandfather, a Sicilian slater who migrated to Germany during the 19th century. When she was 17 years old, Potente spent a few months as an exchange student in Humble, a suburb of Houston, Texas.[4]

Career[]

1990s[]

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 (After Five in the Forest Primeval), directed by her then-boyfriend, Hans Christian Schmid. She played the role of a 17-year-old girl named Anna who, in search of freedom in an urban environment, runs away from home with a boy who has a crush on her. The film premiered at the 1995 Hof International Film Festival and opened in German theaters on 25 April 1996.[5][6] She received the 1996 Bavarian Film Award for Young Talent for her work in this film. She subsequently 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; her breakthrough came with 1998's Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run) after meeting the director, Tom Tykwer, in a café. Specifically written for her persona, her role was that of a woman who needs to obtain 100,000 Deutsche Mark in twenty minutes to save her boyfriend's life. Budgeted at US$1 million, the arthouse thriller was a critical and commercial success, grossing US$14.5 million worldwide.[7] Variety wrote that her performance was "heroic, fierce, frightened and vulnerable all at once",[8] while eFilmCritic.com called her casting a "smart choice".[9] Following her newfound success, she starred opposite Teemu Aromaa in Downhill City (1999), a small-scale drama directed by Finnish director Hannu Salonen,[10] and in the romantic comedy Bin ich schön?, about people having trouble with love and identity, which was released on 17 September 1999 in Germany.[11]

2000s[]

Potente (left) at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair

In the German-language horror film Anatomy (2000), she starred as a medical student who wins a place at an exclusive Heidelberg medical school, where she uncovers a gruesome conspiracy by a secret Anti-Hippocratic society. The film was a box office success in Germany, grossing US$10.5 million domestically,[12] and Variety, in its review for the film, remarked: "Boasting a gutsy performance from sturdy young German star Franka Potente (Run Lola Run), Anatomy is creepy, sometimes gruesome, widescreen fun that pushes all the right buttons. Out-performing Scream at the local [box office] and the biggest German pic of the year so far, this is natural latenight/fantasy fest fare that could become a cult item on half-inch and possibly even theatrically".[13] Also in 2000, she had the starring role in the romantic drama The Princess and the Warrior, directed by Tykwer, her Run Lola Run director. In the film, she portrayed a psychiatric hospital nurse who, after a near-death experience, enters into a relationship with an anguished former soldier (Benno Fürmann, also her co-star in Anatomy) who lapses into criminality. The independent film was favorably received by critics; eFilmCritic stated that Potente "proves her versatility as an actress here with a much more subdued character, but is still capable of delivering powerhouse emotional scenes", while the consensus of review-aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes was: "More slow-moving than Run Lola Run, this film nonetheless offers an intriguing storyline about love and fate".[14] She received nominations for the European Film Award and the German Film Award for Best Actress.

Potente's first English-language role was that of an airline stewardess who becomes engaged to cocaine smuggler George Jung in the biographical crime film Blow, alongside Johnny Depp. The film received mixed reviews,[15] while it grossed US$83.2 million worldwide.[16] She played a film editor in the controversial independent drama Storytelling (2001), with Leo Fitzpatrick and Selma Blair. It premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival,[17] and received a limited release in most international markets.[18][19] Potente next found a much wider recognition from audiences for her performance in The Bourne Identity (2002), co-starring Matt Damon. In the film, she played a European woman who grows closer to the titular character, a man suffering from extreme memory loss and attempting to discover his true identity amidst a clandestine conspiracy within the Central Intelligence Agency. A positive critical reception greeted the film upon its release,[20] and budgeted at US$60 million, it grossed US$214 million globally.[21] After her role in the film, she starred in the American films All I Want (2002) and I Love Your Work (2003), and in the German production Blueprint (2003).

She briefly reprised her role in the German horror sequel Anatomy 2 (2003), and also took on for the second time her part in The Bourne Supremacy (2004), which made US$288.5 million around the globe.[22] In 2004, she starred in the British-German horror film Creep, as a woman locked in the London Underground overnight who finds herself being stalked by a hideously deformed killer living in the sewers below. Despite mixed reviews, the film grossed US$3.2 million in UK cinemas.[23] ViewLondon wrote: "The performances are good, particularly Potente, who avoids scream queen clichés by making her character surprisingly unlikeable – Kate is rude and arrogant in her early scenes and the fact that she's German is, of course, a coincidence."[24]

In 2006, Potente appeared in the German coming-of-age drama Elementarteilchen (Atomised), based on the novel Les Particules élémentaires by Michel Houellebecq and directed by Oskar Roehler. She wrote and directed Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt, a silent also released in 2006. She next starred with Eric Bana and Kodi Smit-McPhee in the Australian drama film Romulus, My Father (2007), about the struggle of a couple to raise their son amid great adversity. For her portrayal, she was nominated for an Australian Film Industry Award for Best Lead Actress. Starting in May 2007, Potente had a three-episode recurring arc in the FX drama The Shield, where she played Diro Kesakhian, "the ruthless godmother of L.A.'s Armenian mafia".[25] Also in 2007, she appeared in Eichmann (2007), a biographical film detailing the interrogation of Adolf Eichmann.

In Che (2008), a two-part biopic about Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Potente took on the role of communist revolutionary Tamara Bunke. She described the film as "really epic and [...] very emotional", during an interview with Vulture magazine.[26] The film, first screened at the Cannes Film Festival, garnered a positive critical response while it made US$40.9 million worldwide.[27][28] The New Yorker, pointing out Potente, remarked that "[m]ajor figures come and go, diverting the plot without registering much of an impact",[29] and The Hollywood Reporter described her part as a "small role" and felt that the actress "seems utterly uncomfortable in every scene".[30] In 2009, she appeared in the House television series two-part episode "Broken".

2010s[]

Potente filmed the American neo-noir film Shanghai in Bangkok, Thailand, with production wrapping in August 2008.[31] The film, set in the 1940s Chinese spy world, was released on 9 June 2010 in China,[32] and on 2 October 2015 in North America.[33] In 2011, she played the leading role of a passenger in the drama The Sinking of the Laconia, about the Laconia incident.[34] The two-part television film first aired in January 2011 on BBC Two.

Potente starred in BBC America's first original scripted series, Copper, as a shrewd Prussian businesswoman and the madam of a brothel, in 1860s New York City during the American Civil War.[35] The show premiered on 9 August 2012 and had the largest debut in the network's history. It was subsequently renewed for a second season,[36] but the BBC announced its cancellation following its finale. Potente subsequently had a two-episode appearance in American Horror Story: Asylum, as a woman who claims to be Holocaust victim and diarist Anne Frank.[37][38]

In 2014, Potente landed a role on the second season of the FX series The Bridge as Eleanor Nacht, a "fixer" for the cartel. She returned to the big screen in the horror sequel The Conjuring 2 as real-life German-British parapsychologist Anita Gregory, who investigated the Enfield Poltergeist case in the late 20th century.[39] The Hollywood Reporter found her to be "curiously sidelined for much of the action",[40] but with a worldwide gross of US$320.3 million, it emerged as Potente's most widely seen film.[41][42] Also in 2016, she obtained the two-episode role of a "calculated and determined" Chief Inspector in the second season of the Canadian supernatural series Dark Matter, and in 2017, she was cast in a supporting role in the BBC period drama series Taboo, alongside Tom Hardy.[43]

Personal life[]

In April 2011, Potente and her partner, actor Derek Richardson, had a daughter named Polly.[44] In mid-2012, the couple married in a private ceremony.[45] In 2013, they had their second daughter, Georgie.[46]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes
1995 After Five in the Forest Primeval Anna German: Nach Fünf im Urwald
1998 Run Lola Run Lola German: Lola rennt
1998 Am I Beautiful? Linda German: Bin ich schön?
1999  [de] Mona Wendt German: Schlaraffenland
1999 Peggy
2000 Anatomy Paula Henning German: Anatomie
2000 The Princess and the Warrior Simone "Sissi" Schmidt German: Der Krieger und die Kaiserin
2001 Blow Barbara Buckley
2001 Storytelling Toby's Editor Segment: "Non-Fiction"
2002 The Bourne Identity Marie Kreutz
2002 All I Want Jane
2003 I Love Your Work Mia Lang
2003 Blueprint Iris Sellin / Siri Sellin
2003 Anatomy 2 Paula Henning German: Anatomie 2
2004 The Bourne Supremacy Marie Kreutz
2004 Creep Kate
2005 A Life in Suitcases Trixie Boudain
2006 Atomised Annabelle German: Elementarteilchen
2007 Romulus, My Father Christine Gaita
2007 Eichmann Vera Less
2008 Che Tamara "Tania" Bunke
2010 Shanghai Leni Müller
2010 Small Lights Valerie
2016 The Conjuring 2 Anita Gregory
2017 Muse Susan
2018 Between Worlds Julie
2018 25 km/h Ute
2019 Princess Emmy Queen Karla Voice[47]

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
1997 Coming In Nina Television film
1998 Opernball Gabrielle Becker Television film
2006 The Shield Diro Kesakhian 3 episodes
2008 Manhunt Beate Klarsfeld Television film
2008 The Bridge Elfie Bauer Television film
2009 House Lydia Bohm Episode: "Broken"
2010 Psych Nadia Episode: "One, Maybe Two, Ways Out"
2011 The Sinking of the Laconia Hilda Smith 2 episodes
2011 Beate Uhse: Das Recht auf Liebe Beate Uhse Television film
2012–2013 Copper Eva Heissen 20 episodes
2012 American Horror Story: Asylum Anne Frank / Charlotte Brown 2 episodes
2014 The Bridge Eleanor Nacht 12 episodes
2016 Dark Matter Chief Inspector Shaddick 2 episodes
2016 Der Island-Krimi Solveig Karlsdóttir 2 episodes
2017 Taboo Helga von Hinten 7 episodes
2018 Claws Zlata Ostrovsky 2 season

Video games[]

Year Title Role Notes
2008 Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy Marie Helena Kreutz Voice role

Discography[]

[48]

  • Believe (1998)
  • Wish (Komm zu mir) (1998)
  • Easy Day (1999)
  • Fly with Me (2001)

Bibliography[]

  • 2005: Los Angeles – Berlin. Ein Jahr
  • 2006: Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt, Drehbuch zum Film
  • 2009: Kick Ass – Das alternative Workout
  • 2010: Zehn: Stories
  • 2014: Almählich wird es Tag

Awards and nominations[]

Year Work Award Result
1995 After Five in the Forest Primeval Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actress Won
1998 Run Lola Run Bambi Award for Best Actress Won
Opernball Bavarian TV Award for Best Actress in a Movie Made for Television Nominated
N/A Berlin International Film Festival EFP Shooting Star Award Won
1999 N/A German Film Award for German Actress of the Year Won
2000 The Princess and the Warrior European Film Award for Best Actress Nominated
German Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated
Jupiter Award for Best German Actress Won
2007 Romulus, My Father Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated

References[]

  1. ^ "Agentur Heppeler". Agenturheppeler.de. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  2. ^ "Franka Potente". franka-potente.org. 22 July 1974. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  3. ^ "Franka Potente Film Reference Biography". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  4. ^ "Ein Star auf der Suche nach immer Neuem". Berliner Morgenpost. 6 March 2005. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  5. ^ "Hof International Film Festival - 1995 Awards". IMDb. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  6. ^ Blaney, Martin (29 October 2001). "Schmid wins prestigious Hof film award". ScreenDaily.com. Screen International. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018.
  7. ^ "Run Lola Run (Lola rennt)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  8. ^ Rooney, David (9 September 1998). "Run Lola Run". Variety. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  9. ^ McKay, Brian (15 October 2002). "Run Lola Run". eFilmCritic.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  10. ^ "Downhill City". IMDb.com. 13 April 2000.
  11. ^ "Am I Beautiful? (1998)". IMDb.com.
  12. ^ "Anatomy (2000) - International Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo". Boxofficemojo.com.
  13. ^ Elley, Derek (28 August 2000). "Anatomy". Variety.com.
  14. ^ "Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess and the Warrior)". Rottentomatoes.com.
  15. ^ "Blow (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  16. ^ "Blow (2001)". Box Office Mojo. 28 August 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  17. ^ Ebert, Roger (8 February 2002). "Storytelling (R)". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  18. ^ "Storytelling Film Review". viewauckland.co.nz. 5 December 2001. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  19. ^ "Storytelling". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  20. ^ "The Bourne Identity (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  21. ^ "Box Office Mojo - Movie Index, A-Z". Boxofficemojo.com.
  22. ^ "The Bourne Supremacy (2004) - Box Office Mojo". Boxofficemojo.com.
  23. ^ "Creep". Boxofficemojo.com.
  24. ^ "Creep". ViewLondon.co.uk.
  25. ^ Mahan, Colin. "Franka Potente joins The Shield". TV.com. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  26. ^ Pearse, Emma (17 December 2008). "Che's Franka Potente on Working With Benicio, Peeing in the Jungle". Vulture.com. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  27. ^ "Guerilla (Che: Part Two) (2009)". Boxofficemojo.com.
  28. ^ "The Argentine (Che: Part One) (2008)". Boxofficemojo.com.
  29. ^ Lane, Anthony (12 January 2009). "Che's Way". Newyorker.com.
  30. ^ "'Che': Film Review". Hollywoodreporter.com.
  31. ^ ""Shanghai" to Hit Chinese Screens in June". English.cri.cn.
  32. ^ "Shanghai (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  33. ^ Lincoln, Ross A. (28 July 2015). "World War II-Set Neo-Noir 'Shanghai' Finally Gets U.S. Release". Deadline.com.
  34. ^ Deacon, Michael (6 January 2011). "The Sinking of the Laconia, BBC Two, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  35. ^ Leffler, Rebecca (1 April 2012). "'Copper' Producer, Actors Preview BBC America's Immigrant Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  36. ^ "BBC America Renews 'Copper' for Second Season". The Hollywood Reporter. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  37. ^ "'American Horror Story': Ryan Murphy on fate of SPOILER". Entertainment Weekly. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  38. ^ "Franka Potente Talks AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM, How She Got Involved with the Show, Playing a Historical Figure and the Role's Biggest Challenges". Collider.com. 17 November 2012.
  39. ^ "James Wan Begins Shooting New Line Cinema's Highly Anticipated "The Conjuring 2"". Business Wire. 28 September 2015.
  40. ^ Linden, Sheri (2 June 2016). "'The Conjuring 2': Film Review". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  41. ^ "Franka Potente Movie Box Office Results". Boxofficemojo.com.
  42. ^ "Franka Potente - Box Office". The-numbers.com.
  43. ^ Petski, Denise (21 March 2016). "'Taboo': Franka Potente Joins Tom Hardy in FX/BBC Period Drama Series". Deadline Hollywood.
  44. ^ "Schauspielerin Franka Potente ist Mutter geworden". Der Standard. 15 August 2011.
  45. ^ "Lola hat klammheimlich geheiratet". Stern. 24 August 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  46. ^ "Filmstar im Interview Was macht eigentlich Franka Potente?". Express.de. 11 July 2014.
  47. ^ "Studio 100 Announces International Cast for 'Princess Emmy'". Animation Magazine. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  48. ^ "Artist: Franka Potente". Discogs.com. Retrieved 11 May 2013.

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