Beata Poźniak
| Beata Poźniak Daniels | |
|---|---|
 Beata Poźniak Daniels in 2013 | |
| Born |
Beata Poźniak 30 April 1960 Gdańsk, Poland |
| Education | Master's Degree (High Honors) |
| Alma mater | Łódź Film School |
| Occupation | Actress, director, producer, writer, artist, activist |
Beata Poźniak Daniels (Polish pronunciation: [bɛˈat̪a pɔʑˈɲak]; born 30 April 1960) is an actress, film director, painter, writer and activist.
Early life
Poźniak was born in Gdańsk, Polish People's Republic. She passed her entrance exam to the National Film School in Łódź PWSFTViT with the highest score in the country, and received a master's degree with High Honors at age 22.
Her very first film role was as an extra in the Academy Award winning film The Tin Drum which happened to be filming near her home. She later made many film appearances and worked as a fashion model and was the calendar girl for Poland's national soccer team.
Career
Film and television work
Pozniak was discovered by the U.S. audiences when Oliver Stone cast her in JFK as Marina Oswald. This memorable role in an Academy Award-nominated film was her U.S. feature debut and it led to her appearances in over 30 film and TV projects worldwide. She played the first female President of the World, Susanna Luchenko (Babylon 5). She also appeared in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles), Dark Skies, and JAG.
On Melrose Place she played Dr. Katya Fielding, a straight woman and mother who decides to marry a gay man. She also appeared on such sitcoms as Mad About You and The Drew Carey Show and as Tambor, the Japanese nanny in Oliver Stone's miniseries Wild Palms. In A Mother's Gift, she played a character who ages thirty years, whereas in the World War II drama Miriam, she played a Catholic woman who risks her life to save a Jewish girl from the Nazis. She starred as Laina in the interactive movie/video game Psychic Detective, released in 1995.
Theatre and Performance Art
Seeking a new voice for herself in a uniquely contemporary style that declares "anything is possible," she founded Theater Discordia. Creating performance-art pieces that have been part of the L.A. Theatre Festival, and the L.A. Poetry Festival, she directed and wrote "Poeticus Umbilicus", "Poetry Discordia", "Return of Umbilicus", "We & They" and "Changing Flags."[1] Her Theater Discordia evolved, with the participation of Peter Sellars, into a celebrated venue for experimental theater works.
Art
Pozniak is also a painter, and continues to work in film, often appearing in experimental and independent productions, several of which she has also directed. In her directorial debut, which was the short film Mnemosyne, she used several of her own art pieces[2]
Activism
Beginning in the late 1980s, soon after her arrival in America, Pozniak began a campaign to get the US Government to recognize International Women's Day. She was very successful, and she accomplished the introduction of the first bill in the history of the U.S. Congress for national recognition of the holiday (H.J. Res. 316) designating March 8 as International Women's Day occurred on March 8, 1994.[3]
Pozniak established a non-profit educational organization Women's Day USA,[4] which aims to raise a public awareness of women's inspirational achievements all over the world. She is currently working on other projects through the organization that helps bring awareness to third world issues.
Honors
Acknowledged with a bronze handprint at Festiwal Gwiazd, Poland's "Hollywood Walk of Fame." Past honorees include: Volker Schlöndorff, Peter Greenaway, David Lynch, Faye Dunaway, Ian Gillan, Anna Paquin among others.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Gareth Jones (journalist) | Rhea Clyman | Based on a true story |
| 2018 | Scenes in a Mind | Katrina Farnwald | Based on a true story |
| 2016 | All These Voices | Beata | Won, Student Academy Awards |
| 2015 | An Unknown Country | Co-producer, documentary | Nominated, 2018 Emmy Award |
| 2014 | People on the Bridge | portrayed poet Wislawa Szymborska | Also directed |
| 2010 | The Officer's Wife | Officer's Wife (Cecylia) | documentary, Narrator |
| 2010 | Ojciec Mateusz | Ewa Pol | TV series |
| 2009 | On Profiles in Courage | Host | Also directed |
| 2007 | Zlotopolscy | Helena | TV series (46 episodes) |
| 2006 | Cyxork 7 | Jacey Anderson | |
| 2006 | Miriam | Margritas | Based on a true story |
| 2004 | Freedom from Despair | Narrator | Award-winning documentary |
| 2002 | The Drew Carey Show | Raisa | TV series |
| 2002 | Philly | TV series | |
| 2002 | Mnemosyne | Director | |
| 2001 | Family Law (TV series) | Mary Kobish | TV series |
| 2001 | Mixed Signals | Erica Chamberlain | |
| 1999 | Enemy Action | Fatima | |
| 1998 | Women's Day: The Making of a Bill | Host | |
| 1997 | Pensacola: Wings of Gold | Eva Terenco | |
| 1997 | Babylon 5 ep "Rising Star" | President Susanna Luchenko | |
| 1997 | Dark Skies | Ludmila | TV series |
| 1997 | JAG | Malka Dayan | TV series |
| 1995 | War & Love | Ingrid Steiner | aka "Heaven's Tears" |
| 1995 | A Mother's Gift | Kristine Reinmuller | |
| 1995 | Psychic Detective | Laina Pozok | Screened at the Sundance Film Festival |
| 1993 | Melrose Place | Dr. Katya Petrova Fielding | TV series |
| 1993 | Wild Palms | Tambor | |
| 1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles' | Irene | |
| 1993 | Mad About You | Masha | TV series |
| 1992 | At Night the Sun Shines | Anabelle | Supervising prod. Robert Wise |
| 1991 | Ferdydurke | Flora Gente | Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski |
| 1991 | Ramona! | Ms. White | |
| 1991 | JFK | Marina Oswald | 8 Nominations Oscars, 2 Wins |
| 1989 | Stan wewnętrzny | Woman in Black | |
| 1989 | White in Bad Light | Narrator | |
| 1987 | Vie en Images | Alicja Eber | Based on a true story |
| 1986 | A Chronicle of Amorous Accidents | Zosia | Andrzej Wajda |
| 1985 | Hamlet in the Middle of Nowhere | Ophelia | |
| 1985 | Rozrywka po staropolsku | ||
| 1982 | Kłamczucha | uczennica | |
| 1981 | Man of Iron | Dir. Andrzej Wajda | |
| 1980 | Pierścień w świńskim ryju | ||
| 1980 | Tango ptaka | Karolinka | |
| 1979 | The Tin Drum | Dir. Volker Schlöndorff | |
Audiobooks
- 2015: "The Tsar of Love and Techno" Penguin Random House - selected by Washington Post as the Best Audiobook of the Year 2015
- 2014: "Empress of the Night: A Novel of Catherine the Great" (19-hour audio book) published by Random House
- 2012: "The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great" (19-hour audio book) published by Random House
References
- ↑ Mariusz Fitowski. "Beata Pozniak". Beata.com. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
- ↑ Mariusz Fitowski. "Beata Pozniak". Beata.com. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
- ↑ "Women's Day USA". Womensday.org. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
External links
- Beata Pozniak Daniels on IMDb
- Official website, beata.com
- Profile, womensday.org
- "Taking the Banner for Women Everywhere", latimes.com
- , Huffington Post, celebrity blogger
- , Hollywood Times
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