Franka Potente
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
"Potente" means powerful in Italian, and this up and coming actress is living up to her name. Though Franka Potente has been attracting attention since she was a little girl, it was in the restroom of a local bar that the beautiful Potente was discovered.
Born in Dulmen, Germany on July 22, 1974, Potente began training as an actress while in high school in Germany and continued to study her craft while attending high-school in Houston, Texas. For two years (1994-96),she studied at Munich's Otto Falkenberg School of Performing Arts. It was during her schooling in Munich that she earned the Bavarian film award for "Best Newcomer" in the movie "Nach funf im Urwald" (1995).
Potente received critical praises for her work in several subsequent German films, but it was her hot pink hair and her steel-toe boots pounding the pavement in "Lola rennt" (1998) that really put her on the international cinematic map. "Lola rennt" (translated to Run, Lola, Run) is a film about fate and destiny and how one small moment could change the "happenings" in a person's life. In "Run, Lola, Run" Potente's character, Lola, runs through town desperately trying to collect money to save her boyfriend Mani. The film, which was written and directed by her boyfriend Tom Tykwer, received a Bambi award in 1998 and in the following year, Potente received an Audience Award for German Actress of the Year (1999).
The exposure Potente received from "Run,Lola,Run" was so heightened that she found herself being considered for many big screen Hollywood roles. She finally settled on a role that called for her to lose her accent and to polish her English speaking skills. That role came in the form of Barbara, the stewardess/drug courier in Ted Demme's cocaine-trade epic, "Blow" (2001). For Potente, the role allowed for a more poised and stylized performance. In 2002, Potente began running again, but this time with Matt Damon in "The Bourne Idenitity" (2002). In "The Bourne Identity," Potente played Marie Kreutz, a woman that Damon's character kidnaps but soon helps him as he discovers his own lost identity. She reprised the role for the popular 2004 sequel "The Bourne Supremacy," after appearing in a diverse array of international films, including the little-seen romantic comedy "Try Seventeen" (2002), where she met rumored paramouer Elijah Wood; a dual role in the unique German clone drama "Blueprint" (2003) and actor Adam Goldberg's directoral debut "I Love Your Work" (2003), playing a popular actress in a story marriage to fame-unfriendly Giovanni Ribisi.
Potente has made her mark in Germany and is quickly climbing the ranks in America. Her exceptional range as an actress has been shown in the roles that she has chosen. Whether she is being "punkish" or "classy," "demanding" or "understanding," audiences are beginning to "run" to see what she will offer up next.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1995
Acting debut, "Aufbruch"
1995
First leading role in features, "Nach funf im Urwald"
1996
Had lead role in the German TV special "Coming In"
1997
Starred in the TV series "Opernball"
1998
Breakthrough role in Tom Tykwer's "Run, Lola, Run"
1999
Had starring role in "Downhill City"
1999
Played a med student involved in a mystery in "Anatomy"
2000
Reteamed with Tykwer for "The Princess and the Warrior"
2001
Cast as the stewardess lover of George Jung in "Blow"
2001
Had small role as a film editor in the "Nonfiction" segment of Todd Solondz's "Storytelling"
2002
Starred opposite Matt Damon in "The Bourne Identity"
2002
Co-starred with Elijah Wood and Mandy Moore in "Try Seventeen"
2003
Starred opposite Giovanni Ribisi in "I Love Your Work" directed by Adam Goldberg
2004
Reprised role of Marie Helena Kreutz opposite Matt Damon in "The Bourne Supremacy"
2007
Had a three-episode recurring role on the FX drama "The Shield" as the ruthless Godmother of LA's Armenian Mafia
2008
Co-starred in "Romulus, My Father" the directing debut of Richard Roxburgh
2008
Portrayed Tamara Bunke in Steven Soderbergh's biopic about Marxist revolutionary in "Che"
Family
Companions
