Krystyna Janda

Director & actor · born 18 December 1952 · Starachowice, Poland

Krystyna Jolanta Janda (Polish: [krɨˈstɨ.na ˈjan.da]; born 18 December 1952) is a Polish film and theatre actress, director, and singer. She is best known internationally for playing leading roles in several films by Polish film director Andrzej Wajda, including Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru, 1976) and Man of Iron (Człowiek z żelaza, 1981). She is widely considered one of the most popular and successful Polish actresses of her generation and an icon of Polish cinema.

In 1981, she played in the Academy Award-winning movie Mephisto. In 1982, she played the lead character in Ryszard Bugajski's film Przesłuchanie (Interrogation), which first premiered seven years later in 1989, following the collapse of communism. Despite the film's late release, she garnered international acclaim for her performance, including winning Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and Polish Film Festival in 1990. Janda is also known for her leading role in the second episode of Dekalog series of Krzysztof Kieślowski. In 2020, she won the Polish Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in drama film Dolce Fine Giornata.

Where to start: A Short Film About Killing (1988).