ACTORS

Jadwiga Barańska

Even though she only played a few roles, it would be difficult to imagine the great Polish actresses without her in their midst. Barbara Niechcic from Maria Dąbrowska’s epic saga will forever have Jadwiga Barańska’s face. A fascinating character, irritating and moving at the...

More

Elżbieta Barszczewska

She appeared on screens for the first time while still a student of PIST (State Institute of Theatrical Arts) in a small role in Michał Waszyński’s Co mój mąż robi w nocy/Where is My Husband Tonight?. Two years later she played a main character – the terrible Mrs Twardowska...

More

Eugeniusz Bodo

Real name: Bogdan Eugène Junod. Born on December 28, 1899 in Geneva, Switzerland (sometimes Warsaw or Lodz are also given as his place of birth), died on October 7, 1943 in Kotlas near Kirov in the Arkhangelsk Oblast (then in USSR).

Actor, screenwriter, director, ...

More

Małgorzata Braunek

Her debut was in Kazimierz Kutz’s 1969 sensational Skok [‘The Leap’] where she played alongside Daniel Olbrychski and Marian Opania. In Witold Leszczyński’s Żywot Mateusza/Matthew’s Days she was an intruder from the present, entering the removed-from-time and close-to-nature...

More

Barbara Brylska

One of the most beautiful Polish actresses, she dazzled with her looks as the priestess Kama in Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Faraon/Pharaoh and she captivated the audiences’ hearts as Krzysia Drohojowska in Jerzy Hoffman’s Pan Wołodyjowski/Fire in the Steppe).
She started playing in...

More

Stanisława Celińska

She displayed her talent in her debut role as Nina in Andrzej Wajda’s Krajobraz po bitwie /Landscape after the Battle, where she created a complicated character, gradually showing her inner warmth and sensitivity. Just as interesting even if less dramatic, was her role of...

More

Iga Cembrzyńska

She was the alluring Moorish princess Emina in Has’s Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie /The Saragossa Manuscript, and Kowalski-Malinowski’s temperamental wife with her feet firmly on the ground in Konwicki’s Salto. After playing in a few TV and cinema films in which she used...

More

Andrzej Chyra

One of the most popular and talented Polish actors. Born on August 27, 1964 in Gryfów Śląski. A graduate of the Acting (1987) and Directing Departments (1994) of the Warsaw Theatre Academy. A turning point in his career was his role in Krzysztof Krauze’s Dług/The Debt, in...

More

Zbigniew Cybulski

One of the most outstanding Polish film actors, perhaps the only one to achieve cult status, Cybulski personified and expressed the internal conflicts and fears of his entire generation, and indirectly – the whole nation. The character of Maciek Chełmicki in Popiół i...

More

Elżbieta Czyżewska

Her first important role was in Tadeusz Konwicki’s Zaduszki [‘All Souls’ Day’]. After that came others: comedy roles for Chmielewski, Bareja, Lenartowicz, and dramatic roles for Has, Skolimowski, Nasfeter. Gifted with a characteristic voice, she seduced with her girlish...

More

Ewa Dałkowska

One of the favourite actresses of cinema of moral anxiety; a graduate of Warsaw University in Polish studies and the University of the Performing Arts, she was never one for romantic roles. She was lucky when it came to dramatic roles – ones that were ambiguous, mysterious, ...

More

Jerzy Duszyński

The war robbed him of an opportunity to make his debut in Hania by Józef Lejtes. Another film, Dwie godziny [Two hours] by Stanisław Wohl and Józef Wyszomirski (1946), where he and Danuta Szaflarska played a couple returning from the war and trying to build their world from...

More

Bożena Dykiel

She appeared for a moment in the crowd of guests in Wajda’s Wesele/The Wedding, enthusiastically biting on a sausage. Later, in Awans/Promotion she played a main character, but she dazzled in Ziemia obiecana/The Promised Land where she painted her Mada Mueller on the verge of...

More

Anna Dymna

She began her film career slightly unfortunately – with a main role in Henryk Kluba’s 5 i ½ bladego Józka [Five and a Half of Pale Joe], which wasn’t allowed on screens. But, seemingly moments later she captured people’s hearts with her role of Ania Pawlak in parts 2 and 3 of...

More

Adolf Dymsza

Real name: Adolf Bagiński. Born on April 7, 1900 in Warsaw, died on August 20,1975 in Góra Kalwaria. One of the most popular Polish comedians. He debuted in 1918, and later went on to perform in theatres in Warsaw, but also in Grodno, Minsk, and after World War Two – in...

More

Recommended video

  • Polish Cinema 1919-1929, prof. Tadeusz Lubelski
  • Polish Cinema 1955-1961, prof. Tadeusz Lubelski
  • History of the Polish film industry, Andrzej Bukowiecki
YouTube channel

Recommended articles

  • The Noose

    Seweryn Kuśmierczyk

    50 Years of Polish Film School, Warsaw 2008

  • Krzysztof Kieślowski: Je t’aime… Moi non plus

    Grażyna Arata

    Świat według Kieślowskiego/The World According to Kieślowski, Editor: Barbara Kurowska, Publisher: Muzeum Kinematografii w Łodzi, 2011

  • Kawalerowicz - a cinema aristocrat

    Stanisław Zawiśliński

    Jerzy Kawalerowicz. Malarz X Muzy /Jerzy Kawalerowicz. Painter of the Tenth Muse, Editor: Mieczysław Kuźmicki, Krystyna Zamysłowska, Stanisław Zawiśliński, Publisher: Muzeum Kinematografii w Łodzi, 2012