Joanna Kulig

Acting

Joanna Kulig

Born 1982-06-24 · Krynica-Zdrój, Poland

Joanna Kulig-Bochniak (born June 24, 1982) is a Polish actress and singer. Noted for performing in different languages, she has worked in film, television and radio as well as on stage. She is the recipient of a European Film Award and two Polish Film Awards, and her work has been recognised at various film festivals. In 2018, Polish magazine Wprost included her among the 50 most influential Poles for her contributions to the cinema of Poland. 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 Best Supporting Actress at the Polish Film Awards and Gdynia Film Festival. Kulig was born on 24 June 1982 in Krynica, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland. Her mother worked as a cook at a local kindergarten and her father was a folk poet. She was raised in a musical family along 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

Acting credits

Fatherland poster
6.2

In 1949, German writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika embark on a road trip across a Germany in ruins, from US-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-controlled Weimar.

Fatherland

2026

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters poster
6.1

After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel and Gretel have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell-bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches... their past.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

2013

Knox Goes Away poster
7.0

A contract killer, after being diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia, is presented with the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son. But to do so, he must race against the police closing in on him as well as the ticking clock of his own rapidly deteriorating mind.

Knox Goes Away

2024

Cold War poster
7.4

A man and a woman meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatally mismatched and yet drawn to each other.

Cold War

2018

She Came to Me poster
6.1

Composer Steven Lauddem is plagued by a creative block which leaves him unable to finish the score for his big comeback opera. When his former therapist-turned-wife Patricia suggests he rekindle his creativity by getting lost in the city, Steven sets out in search of inspiration. His epiphany comes after he meets a spirited woman named Katrina and discovers his life has much more potential than he bargained for, or ever could have imagined.

She Came to Me

2023

Kompromat poster
6.3

Mathieu, a member of the French institute in Irkutsk, is arrested overnight by the Russian authorities. Imprisoned and accused of sexual abuse on his own daughter, he realises he is a victim of a Kompromat. With the help of the FSB, someone has built up a case to frame him. Isolated, he has no one to turn to. Proving his innocence is impossible: the only solution is to escape.

Kompromat

2022

Ida poster
7.2

In 1960s Poland, young novitiate Anna is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation.

Ida

2013

Woman of... poster
6.2

Aniela has lived the first half of her life as a man: with an office job, a wife, and two children. But neither her family's opposition nor repression by the government in Poland can stop her from finally becoming the person she's always been.

Woman of...

2024

The Innocents poster
7.1

Poland, 1945. Mathilde, a young French Red Cross doctor, is on a mission to help the war survivors. When a nun seeks for her help, she is brought to a convent where several pregnant sisters are hiding, unable to reconcile their faith with their pregnancy. Mathilde becomes their only hope.

The Innocents

2016

Elles poster
5.3

A journalist tries to balance the duties of marriage and motherhood while researching a piece on college women who work as prostitutes to pay their tuition.

Elles

2011

Safe Inside poster
6.1

Young lovers Tom and Ana, travelling through Europe, find work at the estate of the otherworldly Richard. Remote and cut off, they soon realise that they need to escape Richard’s powerful and controlling mind, before he traps them in his imagined world.

Safe Inside

2019

Janosik poster
4.1

The story of Janosik, a legendary "Central European Robin Hood", based on real XVIII century documents and a romantic legend. Young Janosik, burnt out by war experiences and disappointment in love, joins a team of brigands. Soon after he becomes the troop's leader and is recognized as a brave and honorable commander, he never kills anyone he robs. Along with the fame he starts enjoying popularity among women. But Janosik's success raises jealousy in one of the troop's members, greedy and brutal Huncaga.

Janosik

2009

The Woman in the Fifth poster
5.2

An American writer moves to Paris to be closer to his daughter and finds himself falling immediately on hard times.

The Woman in the Fifth

2011

Way Back Home poster
7.6

Jeong-yoon and Jong-bae own a car body repair shop together that gets in financial trouble. To help cover the losses and take care of her family, Jeong-yoon decides to smuggle thirty kilograms of cocaine.

Way Back Home

2013

Pitbull: Tough Women poster
5.7

Two new female police officers struggle to survive a force filled with corrupt superiors and the brutal world of the criminal mafia.

Pitbull: Tough Women

2016

Everyone Knows Better poster
5.6

The adventures of a couple who try to put together one family from two different worlds. Other people's children, ex-spouses, pushy grandparents. Will Ania and Grzesiek survive the invasion of their families who are trying to fight the relationship of their adult children?

Everyone Knows Better

2022

Remembrance poster
6.8

Hannah, a young Jewish girl, is rescued from a concentration camp by her Polish boyfriend, and believes he died after their perilous escape. More than 30 years later, the married Hannah faces an emotional crisis when she learns he's alive.

Remembrance

2011

Trivial Of My Life poster
NR

Early 1900s, Argentina. Dick Mahler sneaks onto a ship he believes is bound for India—but ends up in St. Petersburg, Russia, with nothing and no way back. He drifts until a traveling circus takes him in, a place where everything has a role, and staying means learning how to fit into one.

Trivial Of My Life

Clergy poster
6.5

The fate of three Catholic priests were linked together through tragic events a few years back. Every year, on the anniversary of the catastrophe, they gather to celebrate their survival of the tragedy. Lisowski works at a curia in a big city, building his career while dreaming of the Vatican. Standing in his way, Mordowicz, the archbishop, a luxurious church dignitary who is making use of his political connections to build the largest sanctuary in Poland. Trybus, is a parish priest and often submits to human weaknesses. Kukuła also is not doing well. Despite his passion for faith, he is losing the trust of his flock. Soon, through new tragic events, the paths of the three priests will cross again.

Clergy

2018

Island poster
2.5

The story follows Joanna, a striking forty-year-old woman trapped in a stifling marriage to a wealthy and controlling man. When she meets Ada, an enigmatic and free-spirited young woman, Joanna is drawn into a journey of self-discovery and rebellion. As their bond deepens, Joanna begins to break free from the life that has imprisoned her but liberation comes at a price she never anticipated.

Island

2025

No artwork available
NR

In occupied Poland 1943, German official Martin Wolff is sent to a remote village to investigate the disappearance of a Jewish lawyer. His arrival unsettles the fragile order between scarred villagers, corrupt collaborators, and Nazi authorities, unearthing a web of betrayal and greed tied to whispers of the lawyer’s hidden fortune. Yet as the village’s darkest truths come to light, Wolff’s search may be hiding more than it reveals.

Wild Wild East

2026

No artwork available
1.0

The film was inspired by one of the most important documentaries shot by Krzysztof Kieślowski, Talking Heads (1980). The director asked his interlocutors seemingly simple questions, such as “Who are you?” and “What do you want?”.

Talking Heads 2021

2021

Lasting poster
4.8

Lasting is an emotional love story about Michał and Karina, a pair of Polish students who meet and fall in love with each other while working summer jobs in Spain. An unexpected nightmare brutally breaks into their carefree time in the heavenly landscape and throws their lives into chaos.

Lasting

2013

Los numeros poster
6.4

A young policeman gets into trouble after winning the lottery. Adventure and problems follow, as well as lots of beautiful women. The officer runs danger to fall prey to a large scam, but he also can find true love and realizes: in order to win his fate, he has to take chances and play.

Los numeros

2011