JANDA, KRYSTYNA

(1952-)

One of Poland's leading actresses, Janda was voted the best Polish actress in 1989 and 1992 in a poll conducted by the weeklyFilm. In 1996 she was voted byFilmreaders the best actress in the history of Polish cinema. She rose to stardom almost overnight after playing Agnieszka inAndrzej Wajda'sMan of Marble(1977), a young film director who uncovers the Stalinist era in Poland while making her diploma film. She continued that role in the equally well-known sequel,Man of Iron(1981).After appearing in two other films by Wajda, an episodic role inRough Treatment(1978) and the leading one inThe Orchestra Conductor(1980), her screen persona was established. She became known for playingwomenwho were independent and forceful; with actorJerzy Radziwiłowiczshe became one of the most recognizable faces of the new Polish cinema.

During the Solidarity period she appeared in several films directed byPiotr Szulkinand also in the internationally knownMephisto(1981), directed by Hungarian Istvan Szabó. Her finest screen performance, however, was inRyszard Bugajski'sInterrogation(1982/1989), where she played an innocent young woman wrongly charged by the Stalinist secret police. For this role she received several awards, including the distinction of Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990. After the introduction of martial law in 1981, Janda mostly appeared in films made abroad—in France, West Germany, Italy, and Austria—among them in Helma Sanders-Brahms'sLaputa(1986). In 1987 she starred once again with Radziwiłowicz inWaldemar Krzystek'sSuspended(1987), a film about the everyday ugliness ofStalinismand its impact on ordinary yet heroic people. In the late 1980s, she also acted inKrzysztof Kieslowski'sDecalogue2andKrzysztof Zanussi'sInventory(1989). In 1995 Janda directed and starred withDaniel Olbrychskiin her own film,Pip(Pestka). Later, she directed, cowrote, and acted in thetelevisionseriesMasculine-Feminine(Męskie-Żeńskie, 2003-2004) together with her daughter, actress Maria Seweryn. In recent years, Janda has appeared in films by Zanussi (Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease, 2000) andFilip Bajon(Early Spring, 2001) and received an award at theFestival of Polish Filmsfor her role as a blind female poet inSeveral People, Little Time(2005), directed byAndrzej Barański. In addition, Janda is an accomplished theatrical actress in Warsaw; she has also appeared in more than fifty productions of television theater.