Jacek Poniedziałek (born 6 August 1965,

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

film, theatre and television actor as well as a theatre director and translator.

Life and career

He was born on 6 August 1965 in Kraków and grew up in the city's Olsza II District. In 1990, he graduated from the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków. He received his diploma on the basis of his performance in the role of Walter in

Robert Musil Robert Musil (; 6 November 1880 – 15 April 1942) was an Austrian philosophical writer. His unfinished novel, ''The Man Without Qualities'' (), is generally considered to be one of the most important and influential modernist novels. Family M ...

's ''Early Drafts for

The Man Without Qualities ''The Man Without Qualities'' (; 1930–1943) is an unfinished modernist novel in three volumes and various drafts, by the Austrian writer Robert Musil. The novel is a "story of ideas", which takes place in the time of the Austro-Hungarian mona ...

'' directed by

Krystian Lupa Krystian Lupa (Polish pronunciation: ; born 7 November 1943) is a Polish theatre director, set designer, playwright, translator and pedagogue. He has been called "the greatest living European theatre director". He is the recipient of many nation ...

. During his studies in Kraków, he began his long collaboration with theatre director

Krzysztof Warlikowski Krzysztof Warlikowski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 26 May 1962) is a Polish theatre director. He is the creator and artistic director of Nowy Teatr (New Theatre) in Warsaw. Biography He studied history, philosophy and Romance languages at th ...

. He was hired by the German director

Karin Beier Karin Beier (born 1965 in Cologne) is a German theatre director. Biography After studying English in Cologne, Karin Beier moved into theatre. She established an English language theatre and staged Shakespeare plays in their source language. Th ...

for his staging of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'' in a theatre in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. He performed at such institutions as the KTO Theatre in Kraków, the

Juliusz Słowacki Theatre Juliusz Słowacki Theatre () is a 19th-century Eclectic-style theatre and opera house located in the Old Town of Kraków, Poland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Erected in 1893, it was modeled after some of the best European Baroque and Ecle ...

(1990–1992) and the Old Theatre (1992–1997). In 1997, he started working at the National Theatre in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. Between 1999 and 2006, he performed at the

Variety Theatre Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compè ...

and since 2008, he has been working at the New Theatre in Warsaw. He also directed a number of plays such as ''Enter. Slamowana i śpiewana historia miłosna między dwoma mężczyznami, których dzieli bardzo wiele'' (New Theatre in Warsaw, 2010), ''

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' is a 1955 American three-act play by Tennessee Williams. The play, an adaptation of his 1952 short story "Three Players of a Summer Game", was written between 1953 and 1955. One of Williams's more famous works and his ...

'' (People's Theatre in Kraków, 2013) and ''

The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mo ...

'' (

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who wrote in Latin and Polish and established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language. He has been called the greatest Polish poet before ...

Theatre in

Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...

, 2014) by

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

and ''

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of middle-aged couple Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they rece ...

'' by

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...

(Polonia Theatre in Warsaw, 2016). He made his film debut in 1999 by appearing in Stanisław Kuźnik's film ''Moja Angelika''. He also starred in such films as Borys Lankosz's '' Reverse'' (2009),

Jerzy Hoffman Jerzy Julian Hoffman (; born 15 March 1932) is a Polish director, screenwriter, and producer. He received the Polish Academy Life Achievement Award in February 2006. Hoffman is best known for his works in ''The Deluge (film), The Deluge'' (1974) ...

's '' Battle of Warsaw 1920'' (2011),

Grzegorz Królikiewicz Grzegorz Królikiewicz (5 June 1939 – 21 September 2017) was a Polish film director, screenwriter, and pedagogue. Life and career In 1962, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Łódź. In 1967, he began his studies at the N ...

's ''Sąsiady'' (2014), Borys Lankosz's ''Ziarno prawdy'' (2015) and

Krzysztof Zanussi Krzysztof Pius Zanussi (born 17 June 1939) is a Polish film and theatre director, producer and screenwriter. He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop. He ...

's ''Eter'' (2018). He has also translated a number of stage plays into Polish including

Sarah Kane Sarah Kane (3 February 1971 – 20 February 1999) was an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre director. She is known for her plays that deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture—both physical and psychological ...

's '' Cleansed'' (2001),

Hanoch Levin Hanoch Levin (; December 18, 1943 – August 18, 1999) was an Israeli dramatist, theater director, author and poet, best known for his plays. His absurdist style is often compared to the work of Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett. Biography Lev ...

's ''Krum'' (2005),

Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his stage work, he is most known for ''Angels in America'', which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, as well as its subsequent acclaime ...

's ''

Angels in America ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a 1991 American two-part Play (theatre), play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The two parts of the play, ''Millennium Approaches'' and ''Perestroika'', may be presented separate ...

'' (2007), Tennessee Williams's ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pe ...

'' (2010) and

Bernard-Marie Koltès Bernard-Marie Koltès (; ; 9 April 1948 – 15 April 1989) was a French playwright and theatre director best known for his plays ''La Nuit juste avant les Forêts'' (''The Night Just Before the Forests'', 1976), ''Sallinger'' (1977) and ''Dans ...

's ''The End'' (2010).

Personal life

He has a sister Anna (b. 1964) and he had two brothers Bolesław (1954–2014) and Józef (1956–1976). In the 1980s, he was fascinated by Polish rock band ''

Maanam Maanam (Tamil for respect or dignity) was a Polish rock band. History Maanam was formed by Marek Jackowski and Milo Kurtis in 1975 as guitar band M-a-M. In 1976 the band was joined by guitar player John Porter and by Kora ( Olga Jackowska) - ...

'' and at the age of 17, he met and befriended its lead singer Kora. At high school, he set up an amateur theatre with his friends where they staged

Andrzej Bursa Andrzej Bursa (21 March 1932 – 15 November 1957) was a Polish poet and writer. Born in Kraków, he studied journalism, then Bulgarian at Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In 1954–1957 Bursa worked as a journalist and reporter for the Krak ...

's ''Count Cagliostro's Animals''. His academic teachers were

Jan Peszek Jan Peszek (born 13 February 1944) is a Polish theatre, film, and television actor. Although primarily involved in theatre work, he has appeared in more than sixty films since 1970. He is most well known for his work with dramaturgist Bogusław S ...

Krzysztof Globisz Krzysztof Maria Globisz (born 16 January 1957 in Siemianowice Śląskie) is a Polish theatre and film actor. His best-known role is as Piotr Balicki, the newly qualified barrister whose opinion of capital punishment undergoes a radical change i ...

and

Jerzy Stuhr Jerzy Oskar Stuhr (; 18 April 1947 – 9 July 2024) was a Polish film actor, film and theatre actor. Considered one of the most popular, influential and versatile Polish actors and an icon of Polish cinema, he also worked as a screenplay, screen ...

. In 2005, he publicly came out as gay. He was in an 18-year long relationship with theatre director

. In 2019, he took part in a social campaign ''Stoję po stronie młodzieży'' launched by

Campaign Against Homophobia Campaign Against Homophobia (, KPH) is a Polish LGBTQ rights organisation, which aims to promote legal and social equality for people outside of heteronormativity, heteronormality. It was founded in Warsaw in September 2001. It has local branche ...

and a photo shoot for the ''Replika'' gay magazine.

Appearances in television and film

*1999: ''Moja Angelika'' as Alek *2000–2008: ''

M jak miłość ''L for Love'' ( Polish: ''M jak miłość'' ) is a Polish soap opera, revolving around the multiple generations of the Mostowiak family. The series premiered on 4 November 2000 on TVP2, primarily as a weekly drama, and after one season shifted ...

'' as Rafał Lubomski *2001–2002: ''Marzenia do spełnienia'' as an agency worker *2003: ''Przemiany'' as Snaut *2004: ''Trzeci'' as Paweł *2005: ''Magda M.'' as Rafał Żywiecki *2007: '' Ekipa'' as Wojciech Wandurski *2008: ''Boisko bezdomnych'' as a priest *2008: ''Hela w opałach'' as Eryk Krzyżanowski *2008: ''Izolator'' (Warsaw Dark) as Remik *2008: ''

39 i pół ''39 and a Half'' (Polish: ''39 i pół'') is a Polish-language comedy-drama television series aired on TVN from 4 March 2008 to 1 December 2009. It was directed by Mitja Okorn, Łukasz Palkowski, and Łukasz Jaworski; written by Doman Nowakow ...

'' as Kundel *2009: ''

Na Wspólnej ''Na Wspólnej'' (, "On Wspólna Street") is a Polish television soap opera. It has been running since 2003 on the TVN channel as its flagship primetime weekday soap opera. It is loosely based on the German production '' Unter uns'' and it fol ...

'' as Nowicki *2009: '' Reverse'' as a dignitary *2010: ''Klub szalonych dziewic'' as Jan Szwarc *2011: '' Battle of Warsaw 1920'' as Józef Haller *2014: ''Sąsiady'' as husband *2014: ''Na krawędzi 2'' as Jakub Rokosz *2015: ''Ziarno prawdy'' as Klejnocki *2018: ''Druga szansa'' as Marek Strzałkiewicz *2018: ''Eter'' as Doctor *2019: ''Pod powierzchnią'' as attorney Kot *2021: '' The Defence'' *2022: '' Hold Tight'' *2024: ''

Boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poniedziałek, Jacek 1965 births Living people Polish male actors Polish male television actors Polish theatre directors Polish gay actors Male actors from Kraków

Life and career

Personal life

Appearances in television and film

See also

References