Joanna Kulig

Joanna Kulig (born 24 June 1982) is a Polish actress and singer. She gained recognition for her starring role in the 2018 historical drama film Cold War, which earned her the European Film Award and the Polish Academy Award for Best Actress.
After an unsuccessful attempt at a career as a jazz singer, Kulig enrolled at the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków, graduating in 2007. She began performing on stage while still in drama school, debuting in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her first starring film role in the 2007 drama Wednesday, Thursday Morning won her the award for Best Debut at the Gdynia Film Festival. She received further acclaim for her performance in the 2011 film Elles, which earned her a Polish Academy Award and her second award at the Gdynia Film Festival, both for Best Supporting Actress.
Kulig became known for her frequent collaborations with director Paweł Pawlikowski. She appeared in three of his films: The Woman in the Fifth (2011), the Academy Award-winning Ida (2013) and Cold War (2018). Her other notable credits include the highest-grossing Polish film of all time Clergy (2018), and the Netflix series The Eddy (2020).
Early life and education
Kulig was born on 24 June 1982 in Krynica, Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Her mother worked as a cook at a local kindergarten and her father was a folk poet. She was raised with four siblings—two older brothers and two younger sisters—in Muszynka. One of her sisters, Justyna Schneider, is also an actress and adopted their great-grandmother's surname to avoid confusion as their first names are similar.
As as child, Kulig sang in a church choir. She graduated from the Frédéric Chopin First Degree State Music School in Krynica, where she studied piano. At 18, she moved to Kraków, and enrolled at the Mieczysław Karłowicz State Music School Complex, from which she graduated in singing. In the meantime, she also completed the Kraków Vocational Technical High School for Hotel Administration. In 2007, Kulig earned an acting degree with a specialisation in singing from the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków. She was the first in her family to graduate from a university. Kulig initially wanted to be a professional jazz singer. She applied twice to study jazz at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, but was rejected on both occasions. She was also interested in conducting, but was also unsuccessful. She explained: "no one wanted me, so I went to university to do drama and singing," which started her acting career.
Career
1998–2018: Career beginnings and stardom in Poland
In 1998, Kulig won an episode of the Polish television talent show A Chance for Success by performing Grzegorz Turnau's song "Między ciszą a ciszą". She took part in the show's annual final, and came third. Turnau later invited her to sing with him on his 2002 album Nawet. Kulig also participated in season two of the Polish television talent show Idol in 2002. She was eliminated in the semi-finals.
In 2006, while still in drama school, she made her stage debut as Hermia in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theater in Kraków. In 2007, she starred in Grzegorz Pacek's drama Wednesday, Thursday Morning, which marked her film debut and earned her the Gdynia Film Festival award for Best Debut. She followed this with the titular role in the 2008 television play Doktor Halina, which proved to be a pivotal moment in her career. After seeing the play, director Paweł Pawlikowski invited her to audition for his film Ida, and then cast her in his 2011 psychological thriller The Woman in the Fifth in a role written specifically for her. Kulig herself admitted that seeing the play on television convinced her to return to acting as she quit briefly. In The Woman in the Fifth, set in Paris, she portrayed Ania, a Polish barmaid who falls in love with the protagonist American writer Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke). In 2011, Kulig was also partnered with Juliette Binoche for Małgorzata Szumowska's drama Elles, similarly set in Paris, in which she played Alicja, a Polish economics student who moonlights as a prostitute. The film premiered to mixed reception, though Kulig's performance received praise. Kevin Jagernauth of IndieWire opined that she "has the potential to be breakout star boasting a strong screen presence and an undeniable beauty". She won the Polish Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and another recognition at the Gdynia Film Festival for Best Supporting Actress. Aside from these two projects, 2011 saw Kulig appear in the war drama Remembrance, and star in the Polish comedies: Los numeros, Million Dollars and Dance Marathon. She earned a Golden Duck Award nomination for Best Actress for her performances in the last two.
Kulig received her second Polish Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Jacek Borcuch's drama Lasting, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Later that year, she appeared in Pawlikowski's Academy Award-winning drama Ida, and in Eun-jin Pang's film Way Back Home. Initially considered to play the title character in the former, she was eventually found not suited for the part and was instead cast in a smaller role of a nightclub singer. Kulig also had a small part in the 2013 blockbuster Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, which required her to wear prosthetics. In 2014, she was cast in a leading role on the Polish sitcom O mnie się nie martw, starring as Iga in its first nine seasons until 2018. Kulig next starred in the romantic comedies Sophie Seeks Seven (2014) and Warsaw by Night (2015), and in the commercially successful films Disco Polo (2015) and Pitbull: Tough Women (2016). Disco Polo, directed by her husband Maciej Bochniak, saw her in the role of a disco polo star Gensonina. In Pitbull: Tough Women, Poland's highest-grossing film of 2016, Kulig played a policewoman Zuza. She also portrayed Sister Irena in Anne Fontaine's critically acclaimed 2016 World War II drama The Innocents inspired by the true story of Polish Catholic nuns who became pregnant from rape by Soviet soldiers stationed near their convent.
2018–present: International success
Kulig's international breakthrough came in 2018 when she starred in Pawlikowski's historical drama film Cold War. The film marked their third collaboration, which prompted Pawlikowski to call her his "muse". The part of Zula, a woman in post-war Poland who joins a folk music touring group, was once again written by Pawlikowski with her in mind. In the film, Kulig notably performs the traditional Polish folk song "Dwa serduszka" ("Two Hearts"), termed by Vulture as "the movie's unofficial theme song". Mark Kermode of The Observer wrote that she "delivers a star-making performance of astonishing range and depth", and Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle stated that "she takes the role of a lifetime between her teeth, chomps on it, pounds it into the ground and never lets go for a second." According to Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter, "in a fair world ... Kulig would not only be a serious contender for a best actress nom, but would quickly become an in-demand actress in Hollywood, too." Kulig received the Best Actress Award at the 31st European Film Awards, and the Polish Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. That same year, she played local priest's girlfriend with whom she gets pregnant in Wojciech Smarzowski's controversial film Clergy, which went on to become the highest-grossing Polish film of all time. In 2019, she was cast in the recurring role of Johanna, titular character's mother, in Amazon Studios series Hanna.
Kulig starred as Polish jazz singer Maja in Damien Chazelle's 2020 Netflix musical drama series The Eddy. The character was originally intended to be American, but after meeting with Chazelle the part was rewritten for her. In 2021, Kulig was cast as the lead in TVN thriller series Spider's Web playing a spider behaviour specialist trying to unravel the mystery of the death of her mother and sister. She served as one of the jurors of the Un Certain Regard section at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. That year, she had a starring role opposite Gilles Lellouche in the action thriller Kompromat directed by Jérôme Salle. The film was released to mixed reception, and of Kulig's role Pastes Andy Crump wrote: "Diminishing the shine of an actress as luminous as Kulig is an impressive feat, but she's left darkened as Lellouche's object of desire, unable to perform beyond the single dimension given to her."
In 2023, Kulig starred in Rebecca Miller's romantic comedy She Came to Me alongside Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei and Brian d'Arcy James. She was Miller's first choice for the role of a Polish immigrant Magdalena as she regards her "the greatest Polish actress, I know". Despite the mixed reception of the film, Kate Erbland of IndieWire found Kulig's performance "heartbreaking", and David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter thought that "only Kulig ... registers as a compassionate presence grounded in a modicum of truth." Kulig next starred as a wife of a man transitioning to a woman in socially conservative Poland in Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englerts drama Woman Of..., which premiered at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival. She also had a supporting role in Michael Keaton's 2023 noir thriller Knox Goes Away, and is set to make a guest appearance in the upcoming Apple TV+ miniseries Masters of the Air. Reviewing the former, Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood said that "she makes an impression as Knox's faithful lover."
Personal life
Kulig is a practicing Christian. Aside from speaking Polish—her first language—she also speaks English, French and German. In 2009, she married film director and screenwriter Maciej Bochniak. She gave birth to their son in February 2019.
Kulig starred in the autumn-winter 2018 avertising campaign for Reserved, alongside Jeanne Damas. She was named Woman of the Year by Glamour Poland in 2018, and ranked fourth on Polish magazine Wprosts 2019 list of the 50 most influential Polish women. In 2023, she was honoured with St. Brother Albert Medal for her charity work for people with disabilities, which she dedicated to her mother. When accepting the award, she said: "Moments like this show that it is worth helping others. Thank you mum for teaching me that." Kulig also became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that year.
Acting credits
Film
Television
Stage
Radio
Discography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
1982 births
21st-century Polish actresses
European Film Award for Best Actress winners
Living people
People from Krynica-Zdrój
Polish film actresses
Polish stage actresses
Polish television actresses