Franka Potente

Franka Potente Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: July 22, 1974

Age: 50 years old

Birth Place: Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

"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.

Credits

Castlevania: NocturneStream

Voice
Erzsebet Báthory
Series
2023
96%

Home

Director
Movie
2020

Home

Screenwriter
Movie
2020

Home

Writer
Movie
2020

Bornov identitet

Actor
Show
2019

Prinzessin Emmy

Voice
Karla von Kandis
Movie
2019

Princess Emmy

Voice
Queen Karla
Movie
2019

TitansStream

Actor
Series
2018
89%

Between Worlds

Actor
Julie
Movie
2018

25 km/h

Actor
Ute
Movie
2018

ClawsStream

Guest Star
Zlata
Series
2017
90%

Musa

Actor
Susan Gilard
Movie
2017

Der Island-Krimi

Actor
Solveig Karlsdóttir
Show
2016

The Conjuring 2Stream

Actor
Anita Gregory
Movie
2016
80%

Der Island-Krimi: Der Tote im Westfjord

Actor
Solveig Karlsdóttir
Movie
2016

Der Island-Krimi: Tod der Elfenfrau

Actor
Solveig Karlsdóttir
Movie
2016

Wer weiß denn sowas XXL

Actor
Show
2015

Dark MatterStream

Guest Star
Chief Inspector Shaddick
Series
2015

No Way Jose

Actor
Uli
Movie
2015

All I Want for January

Actor
Show
2013

American Horror Story: Asylum

Guest Star
Anne Frank / Charlotte Brown
Show
2012

CopperStream

Actor
Eva Heissen
Series
2012
81%

Valerie

Actor
Movie
2012

The Sinking of the Laconia

Actor
Hilda
Show
2011

Beate Uhse: Das Recht auf Liebe

Actor
Beate Uhse
Movie
2011

Laconia Teil 1

Actor
Hilda
Movie
2011

Laconia Teil 2

Actor
Hilda
Movie
2011

Laconia

Actor
Hilda
Movie
2011

ShanghaiStream

Actor
Leni Mueller
Movie
2010
4%

Die Hetzjagd

Actor
Movie
2008

Die Brücke

Actor
Movie
2008

Che Part 2: Guerrilla

Actor
Tania
Movie
2008

Che: Part Two

Actor
Tania
Movie
2008

Che: Part One

Actor
Tania
Movie
2008

Le Pont des sacrifiés

Actor
Movie
2008

Romulus, My Father

Actor
Christina
Movie
2007

Eichmann

Actor
Vera Less
Movie
2007

Baba's song

Actor
Movie
2007

La traque

Actor
Beate Klarsfeld
Movie
2007

PsychStream

Guest Star
Series
2006
89%

Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt

Director
Movie
2006

The Elementary Particles

Actor
Annabelle
Movie
2006

HouseStream

Guest Star
Lydia
Series
2004
90%

Creep

Actor
Kate
Movie
2004

The Bourne SupremacyStream

Actor
Marie
Movie
2004
82%

I Love Your Work

Actor
Mia
Movie
2003

Blueprint

Actor
Iris Sellin/Siri Sellin
Movie
2003

The Tulse Luper Suitcases Part 2: Vaux to the Sea

Actor
Movie
2003

Anatomy 2

Actor
Paula Henning
Movie
2003

The Bourne IdentityStream

Actor
Marie Helena Kreutz
Movie
2002
84%

Try Seventeen

Actor
Jane
Movie
2002

BlowStream

Actor
Barbara Buckley
Movie
2001
55%

Storytelling

Actor
Editor
Movie
2001

Anatomy

Actor
Paula Henning
Movie
2000

The Princess and the Warrior

Actor
Sissi
Movie
2000

Una Amarga Lección

Actor
Mona Wendt
Movie
1999

Der Opernball

Actor
Show
1998

Opernball

Actor
Gabrielle Becker
Show
1998

Bin ich schön?

Actor
Linda
Movie
1998

Opernball - Teil 1

Actor
Gabrielle Becker
Movie
1998

Opernball - Teil 2

Actor
Gabrielle Becker
Movie
1998

Run Lola RunStream

Actor
Lola
Movie
1998
93%

Run Lola RunStream

Original Music
Movie
1998
93%

Die Drei Mädels von der Tankstelle

Actor
Lena
Movie
1997

Die Harald Schmidt Show

Actor
Show
1995

Nach Fünf im Urwald

Actor
Anna
Movie
1995

News aboutFranka Potente