Pola Kinski (born Pola Nakszynski; 23 March 1952) is a German actress. She is the firstborn daughter of the German actor
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor. Equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality, he appeared in over 130 film roles in a ...
.
Early life
Under the name Pola Nakszynski, Pola Kinski was born in West Berlin as the only daughter of German actor
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor. Equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality, he appeared in over 130 film roles in a ...
and his first wife, the singer Gislinde Kühlbeck. After her father changed his surname to Kinski, it was changed for his children as well.
Her parents divorced in 1955 when she was three years old. Kinski was brought up by her mother and grandfather in Munich and saw her father only on an irregular basis. As soon as he became a famous actor, he would order his daughter to visit him in Berlin and later in Rome, as well as on film sets. He alternated between fits of rage and showering her with money and extravagant presents.
Her mother remarried and had a second child with her husband Herbert Kuhlbeck. Her father remarried twice and had a child with each of his wives. Kinski is the half-sister of the German actress
Nastassja Kinski
Nastassja Aglaia Kinski (; née Nakszynski, ; born 24 January 1961) is a German actress and former model who has appeared in more than 60 films in Europe and the United States. Her worldwide breakthrough was with '' Stay as You Are'' (1978). Sh ...
(born 1961) and the French-American actor
Nikolai Kinski
Nanhoï Nikolai Kinski (born July 30, 1976) is a French-American film actor, who has also done work in television and on stage. He was born in Paris, and grew up in California. Currently residing in Berlin, he has acted primarily in American and ...
(born 1976). The half-siblings spent little time together while growing up.
Autobiography
In 2013, 20 years after her father's death, Kinski released an autobiography, ''The Mouth of a Child'', 2013 (). The book's title refers to the original title of her father's memoirs ''
All I Need Is Love'' (, literally ''I am so wild about your strawberry mouth''), first published in 1975.
In ''The Mouth of a Child,'' she describes being sexually assaulted by her father throughout her childhood, from ages 5 to 19, while her mother claimed not to have noticed.
A ''
Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' book review describes Pola's portrayal of him as being "furiously intense, disturbingly charismatic, emotionally extravagant —
eoverwhelmed her with attention. He gave her expensive gifts, dressed her in the most beautiful clothes, flattered her with passionate compliments. Little Pola was always "My princess", "My baby doll", "My darling child", whom Kinski insisted he couldn't live a minute without. If they were apart, he might call her a dozen times a day."
Commenting on the autobiography, her younger sister Nastassja said "My sister is a heroine because she has freed her heart, her soul and also her future from the weight of the secret."
Career
In the early 1970s, Kinski studied acting at the
Otto-Falckenberg-Schule
The Otto Falckenberg Schule – Fachakademie für darstellende Kunst der Landeshauptstadt München, or Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts, is a higher education academy in Munich training actors and directors, affiliated to the Mün ...
in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
.
In addition to gaining early film roles, she acted at the
Schauspielhaus Bochum
The Schauspielhaus Bochum is one of the notable drama theatres in Germany. It is located on Königsallee in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, ...
and the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus, sometimes referred to as the Hamburg Schauspielhaus or Hamburg Theatre, is a theatre in the St. Georg, Hamburg, St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany
History
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus was co-foun ...
in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. In the 1970s she worked with
Peter Zadek
Peter Zadek (; 19 May 1926 – 30 July 2009) was a German director of theatre, opera and film, a translator and a screenwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest directors in German-speaking theater.
Biography
Peter Zadek was born on 19 May ...
and the director
Ivan Nagel.
From 1977 onwards, Kinski worked as a freelance actor in German-language productions. She lived in Berlin and Paris. She has also appeared in several television films, including some produced in the early 2000s.
Marriage and family
She married Wolfgang Hoepner, a lawyer, and they live in
Ludwigshafen
Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning "Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig's Port upon the Rhine"; Palatine German dialects, Palatine German: ''Ludwichshafe''), is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the German state of Rh ...
. They have three children. Kinski is the aunt of American fashion model
Kenya Kinski-Jones
Kenya Julia Niambi Sarah Jones (born February 9, 1993), known professionally as Kenya Kinski-Jones, is an American fashion model. She is the daughter of American record producer Quincy Jones and German actress Nastassja Kinski.
Early life and e ...
.
Filmography
*1977: ''Das Ende der Beherrschung'' (TV)
*1977: ''Fehlschuß'' (TV)
*1978: ' (Feature film)
*1980: ''Ohne Rückfahrkarte'' (Film)
*1980: ''
Sunday Children'' (Film)
*1981: ' (TV)
*1983: ''Das Dorf'' (TV)
*1985: ''
Ein Fall für zwei
''A case for two'' (German: ''Ein Fall für zwei'') is a German television series, which premiered on 11 September 1981 on ZDF. The series, set in Frankfurt, features two main characters who solve crimes: a defense attorney and a private investi ...
: Fluchtgeld'' (TV)
*1986: ''Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg'' (TV)
*1987: ''Komplizinnen'' (TV)
*2001: ''
Bella Block
''Bella Block'' is a long-running German detective television series starring Hannelore Hoger as inspector Bella Block. The show was first broadcast in 1994 on ZDF and last aired in 2018, having run for 38 seasons.
See also
* List of German t ...
: Bitterer Verdacht'' (TV)
*2004: ''
Tatort
("Crime Scene") is a German-language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with 30 feature-length episodes per year, making it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public-se ...
: Hundeleben'' (TV)
*2007: ''Wir werden uns wiederseh'n'' (Film)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinski, Pola
1952 births
Living people
Actresses from Berlin
German television actresses
German film actresses
20th-century German actresses
German people of Polish descent
Kinski family