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). She then came to global prominence with her Golden Globe Award-winning performance as the title character in the Roman Polanski-directed film Tess (1979). Other films in which she acted include the Francis Ford Coppola musical romance film One from the Heart (1982), erotic horror film Cat People (1982) from Paul Schrader, and the Wim Wenders drama films Paris, Texas (1984) and Faraway, So Close! (1993). She also appeared in the biographical drama film An American Rhapsody (2001). She is the daughter of German actor Klaus Kinski.

Early life

Born Nastassja Aglaia Nakszynski in West Berlin she is the daughter of German actor Klaus Kinski and his second wife, actress Ruth Brigitte Tocki. She is of partial Polish descent, for her grandfather Bruno Nakszynski was a Germanized ethnic Pole. Kinski has two half-siblings: Pola and Nikolai Kinski. Her parents divorced in 1968. After the age of 10, Kinski rarely saw her father. Her young mother struggled financially to support them; they eventually lived in a commune in Munich.

In a 1999 interview, Kinski denied that her father had molested her as a child, but said he had abused her "in other ways". she confirmed that he attempted this with her, but did not succeed. She said, "He was no father. Ninety-nine percent of the time I was terrified of him. He was so unpredictable that the family lived in constant terror." When asked what she would say to him now, if she had the chance, she replied, "I would do anything to put him behind bars for life. I am glad he is no longer alive."

Career

thumb|Nastassja Kinski with [[John Savage (actor)|John Savage and still photographer Yoni S. Hamenachem on the set of Maria's Lovers (1984)]]

thumb|upright|Kinski in 1989

thumb|Kinski at the [[1990 Cannes Film Festival]]

thumb|Kinski in 2009

thumb|Kinski in 2015

Kinski began working as a model as a teenager in Germany. Actress Lisa Kreuzer of the German New Wave helped get her the role of the mute Mignon in Wim Wenders 1975 film The Wrong Move, in which at the age of 14 she was depicted topless. She later played one of the leading roles in Wenders' film Paris, Texas (1984) and appeared in his film Faraway, So Close (1993).

In 1976, while still a teenager, Kinski had her first two major roles: in Wolfgang Petersen's feature film-length episode Reifezeugnis of the German TV crime series Tatort. Next, she appeared in the British horror film To the Devil a Daughter (1976), produced by Hammer Film Productions, which was released in the UK just 40 days after Kinski's fifteenth birthday, making it a virtual certainty she was only fourteen when her scenes were shot (including full frontal nudity). In regards to her early films, Kinski has stated that she felt exploited by the industry. In an interview with W, she said, "If I had had somebody to protect me or if I had felt more secure about myself, I would not have accepted certain things. Nudity things. And inside it was just tearing me apart."

In 1978, Kinski starred in the Italian romance Stay as You Are (Così come sei) with Marcello Mastroianni, gaining her recognition in the United States after New Line Cinema released it there in December 1979. Time wrote that she was "simply ravishing, genuinely sexy and high-spirited without being painfully aggressive about it." The film also received a major international release from Columbia Pictures.

Kinski met the director Roman Polanski at a party in 1976. He urged her to study method acting with Lee Strasberg in the United States and she was offered the title role in Polanski's upcoming film, Tess (1979). In 1978, Kinski underwent extensive preparation for the portrayal of an English peasant girl, which included acquiring a Dorset accent through elocution studies:

Tess was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture, at the 53rd Academy Awards, and won three.

On 14 June 1981, Vogue editor Polly Allen Mellen asked Nastassja Kinski what she liked and Kinski replied, "snakes," then a Burmese python was hired for the photoshoot with Richard Avedon, with resulting photograph of Kinski with a Burmese python coiled around her nude body, "Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, Los Angeles, California, June 14, 1981".

In 1982, she starred in Francis Ford Coppola's romantic musical One from the Heart, her first film made in the United States. Texas Monthly described her as acting "as a Felliniesque circus performer to represent the twinkling evanescence of Eros." The film failed at the box office and was a major loss for Coppola's new Zoetrope Studios. That year, she was also in the erotic supernatural horror movie Cat People. On 29 December 1982, Kinski made a puzzling appearance on the program Late Night with David Letterman, seeming somewhat oblivious to the jokes and everything else that was going on around her and appearing with an unusual hair style Letterman described as "looking like there was an owl perched on top of her head." (Letterman's second guest, John Candy, came out with his own hair moussed up in a pile as a spoof of Kinski's hair.)

Dudley Moore's comedy Unfaithfully Yours and an adaptation of John Irving's The Hotel New Hampshire followed in 1984.

Kinski reteamed with Wenders for the 1984 film Paris, Texas. One of her most acclaimed films to date, it won the top award at the Cannes Film Festival. Throughout the 1980s, Kinski split her time between Europe and the United States, making Moon in the Gutter (1983), Harem (1985) and Torrents of Spring (1989) in Europe, and Exposed (1983), Maria's Lovers (1984), and Revolution (1985) in the United States.

During the 1990s, Kinski appeared in a number of American films, including the action movie Terminal Velocity opposite Charlie Sheen, the Mike Figgis 1997 adultery tale One Night Stand, Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), John Landis's Susan's Plan (1998), and The Lost Son (1999).

Her most recent films include David Lynch's Inland Empire (2006) and Rotimi Rainwater's Sugar (2013). In 2016, she competed in the German Let's Dance show.

Personal life

In 1976, when Kinski was aged 15, it was speculated that there had been a romantic relationship with director Roman Polanski, who at the time was 43. Polanski confirmed the relationship in a 1994 interview with Diane Sawyer: "...what about Nastassja Kinski? She was young and we had a love affair." However, in a 1999 interview in The Guardian, Kinski was quoted as saying that there was no affair and that "there was a flirtation. There could have been a seduction, but there was not. He had respect for me." On 10 September 1984, Kinski married Egyptian filmmaker Ibrahim Moussa, with whom she had daughter Sonja Kinski. The marriage was dissolved in July 1992. From 1992 until 1995, Kinski lived with musician Quincy Jones, though she kept her own apartment on Hilgard Avenue, near UCLA, at the time. They had a daughter, Kenya Julia Niambi Sarah Jones, a model known professionally as Kenya Kinski-Jones.

In 1997, Kinski dated married producer Jonathan D. Krane during a brief separation from his wife, actress Sally Kellerman. Over the course of her career, Kinski has also been romantically linked with Paul Schrader, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Rob Lowe, Jon Voight, Gérard Depardieu, Dudley Moore, Miloš Forman and Wim Wenders. As of 2012, she was dating actor Rick Yune.

In 2001, Kinski stated in an interview in The Daily Telegraph that she was affected by the sleep disorder narcolepsy.

Filmography

{| class = "wikitable sortable"

|+ Cinema feature films

|-

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Role

! class="unsortable" scope="col" | Notes

|-

| 1975

| The Wrong Move

| Mignon

|

|-

| 1976

| To the Devil a Daughter

| Catherine Beddows

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1978

| Passion Flower Hotel

| Deborah Collins

|

|-

| Stay as You Are

| Francesca

|

|-

| 1979

| Tess

| Tess

|

|-

| 1981

| One from the Heart

| Leila

|

|-

| 1982

| Cat People

| Irena Gallier

|

|-

| rowspan="3" | 1983

| Spring Symphony

| Clara Wieck

|

|-

| Exposed

| Elizabeth Carlson

|

|-

| Moon in the Gutter

| Loretta Channing

|

|-

| rowspan="4" | 1984

| Unfaithfully Yours

| Daniella Eastman

|

|-

| The Hotel New Hampshire

| Susie the Bear

|

|-

| Paris, Texas

| Jane Henderson

|

|-

| Maria's Lovers

| Maria Bosic

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1985

| Harem

| Diane

|

|-

| Revolution

| Daisy McConnahay

|

|-

| 1987

| Maladie d'amour

| Juliette

|

|-

| 1988

| Magdalene

| Magdalene

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1989

| Torrents of Spring

| Maria Nikolaevna Polozov

|

|-

| Crystal or Ash, Fire or Wind, as Long as It's Love

| Joëlle Lavoisier

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1990

| The Secret

| Lucia

|

|-

| The Sun Also Shines at Night

| Cristina

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1991

| Humiliated and Insulted

| Natasha Ikhmenyeva

|

|-

| L'alba

| Karin

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1992

| In camera mia

| Nastienka

|

|-

| L'envers du décor: Portrait de Pierre Guffroy

| Herself

| Documentary film

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1993

| The Blonde

| Christine

|

|-

| Faraway, So Close!

| Raphaela

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1994

| Crackerjack

| K. C.

|

|-

| Terminal Velocity

| Chris Morrow / Krista Moldova

|

|-

| 1996

| Somebody Is Waiting

| Charlotte Ellis

|

|-

| rowspan="4" | 1997

| Fathers' Day

| Collette Andrews

|

|-

| Little Boy Blue

| Kate West

|

|-

| Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's

| Herself

| Documentary film; uncredited

|-

| One Night Stand

| Karen

|

|-

| rowspan="5" | 1998

| Your Friends & Neighbors

| Cheri

|

|-

| Susan's Plan

| Susan Holland

|

|-

| Savior

| Maria Rose

|

|-

| Playing by Heart

| The Lawyer

| Uncredited

|-

| Ciro norte

| Venus

| Short

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1999

| The Lost Son

| Deborah

|

|-

| The Intruder

| Badge Muller

|

|-

| rowspan="3" | 2000

| The Magic of Marciano

| Katie

|

|-

| Time Share

| Dr. Julia Weiland

|

|-

| The Claim

| Elena Dillon

|

|-

| rowspan="7" | 2001

| Cold Heart

| Linda Cross

|

|-

| Town & Country

| Alex

|

|-

| An American Rhapsody

| Margit

|

|-

| .com for Murder

| Sondra

|

|-

| Diary of a Sex Addict

| Jane Bordeaux

| Video

|-

| Say Nothing

| Grace

|

|-

| Beyond the City Limits

| Misha

|

|-

| 2003

| Paradise Found

| Mette Gauguin

|

|-

| 2004

| À ton image

| Mathilde

|

|-

| 2006

| Inland Empire

| The Lady

|

|-

| 2007

| More Things That Happened

| The Lady

| Part of the Inland Empire DVD; uncredited

|-

| rowspan="2" | 2013

| Sugar

| Sister Nadia

|

|-

| Il turno di notte lo fanno le stelle

| Sonia

| Short

|-

| 2015

| Dietro gli occhiali bianchi

| Herself

| Documentary film

|-

| 2018

| Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast

| Herself

| Documentary film

|-

| 2022

| Dark Satellites

| Birgitt

|

|-

| 2023

| LasVegas

| Ilse von Lossberg

|

|-

| 2025

| Im Zeichen des Drachen

| Anja

|

|-

| rowspan="2" | 2026

| Music in the Forest

| Marie

| rowspan="2" | Post-production

|-

| Hijamat

| Margot

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Television

|-

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Role

! class="unsortable" scope="col" | Notes

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1977

| Tatort

| Sina Wolf

| Season 1, Episode 73: "Reifezeugnis"

|-

| Notsignale

| Michael's Freundin

| Season 1, Episode 3: "Im Nest"

|-

| rowspan="2" | 1996

| The Ring

| Ariana von Gotthard

| 2 episodes

|-

| The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century

| Rosa Luxemburg

| Season 1, Episode 3: "Hatred & Hunger"; Voice

|-

| 1997

| Bella Mafia

| Sophia Luciano

| 2 episodes

|-

| rowspan="2" | 2000

| A Storm in Summer

| Gloria Ross

| TV movie

|-

| Quarantine

| Dr. Galen Bronty

| TV movie

|-

| rowspan="3" | 2001

| Blind Terror

| Susan

|TV movie

|-

| The Day the World Ended

| Dr. Jennifer Stillman

| TV movie

|-

| The District

| Trish

| Season 2, Episode 8: "Tug of War"

|-

| 2002

| All Around the Town

| Karen Grant

| TV movie

|-

| 2003

| Les Liaisons dangereuses

| Madame Maria de Tourvel

| 2 episodes

|-

| 2004

| La Femme Musketeer

| Lady Bolton

| 2 episodes

|-

| rowspan="2" | 2022

| Police de Caractères

| Romy

| Season 1, Episode 3: "Cadavre Exquis"

|-

| Homeshopper's Paradise

| Aimée

|TV movie

|-

| 2023–2025

| Castlevania: Nocturne

| Tera

| Voice; 14 episodes

|-

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Music videos

|-

! Year

! Artist

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

|-

| 1988

| Sonic Youth

| "Teen Age Riot"

| Jane Henderson

| Archival footage from the 1984 film Paris, Texas

|-

| 1993

| U2

| "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)"

| Raphaela

| Archival footage from the 1993 film In weiter Ferne, so nah!

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Museum film installations

|-

! Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

|-

| 2010

| The Clock

| Tess Durbeyfield / Irena Gallier / Karen

| Archival footage from the 1979 film Tess, the 1982 film Cat People, the 1997 film One Night Stand

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Producer

|-

! Year

! Title

! class="unsortable" | Notes

|-

| 2000

| Time Share

| Television film; co-producer

|-

| 2001

| .com for Murder

| Direct-to-video; co-associate producer

|}

Awards and nominations

The awards and nominations received by Nastassja Kinski include one Art Film Fest Award, one Bambi Award, two Bravo Ottos (out of three nominations), two Deutscher Filmpreis Awards (also out of three nominations), one Golden Globe (out of two nominations), one Jupiter Award, one Nastro d'Argento Award and one Wine Country Film Festival Award.

Among others, her achievements in film industry include also two César Awards nominations, one Globo d'oro nomination, and one Saturn Award nomination.

Acting awards

Bambi Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| 1978

| Tatort: "Reifezeugnis"

|

  • Best Young Actress

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

Bravo Otto Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| 1977

| rowspan=3| Herself

| rowspan=3|

  • Movie Star – Female

|

|-

| 1978

|

|-

| 1979

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

César Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| 1980

| Tess

| rowspan=2|

  • Best Actress

|

|-

| 1988

| Maladie d'amour

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

Deutscher Filmpreis Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| 1975

| The Wrong Move (aka Wrong Movement)

|

  • Best Performance by an Ensemble

|

|-

| 1983

| Spring Symphony

| rowspan=2|

  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

|

|-

| 1985

| Paris, Texas

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

  • A Shared with Hans Christian Blech, Ivan Desny, Adolf Hansen, Marianne Hoppe, Peter Kern, Lisa Kreuzer, Hanna Schygulla and Rüdiger Vogler.

Globo d'oro Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| 1990

| The Secret

|

  • Best Actress

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

Golden Globe Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| rowspan=2| 1980

| rowspan=2| Tess

|

  • New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture – Female

|

|-

|

  • Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

Jupiter Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| 1978

| Herself

|

  • Best International Actress

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

Nastro d'Argento Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| 1985

| Maria's Lovers

|

  • Silver Ribbon – Best Foreign Actress

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

Saturn Awards

{| class=wikitable

! width=4% | Year

! width=36%| Nominated work

! width=50%| Category

! width=10%| Result

|-

| 1982

| Cat People

|

  • Best Actress

|

|-

| colspan=4 width=100% style=font-size:8pt align=center| Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

Wine Country Film Festival Awards

{| class="wikitable"

! width="4%" | Year

! width="36%" | Nominated work

! width="50%" | Category

! width="10%" | Result

|-

| 2000

| The Magic of Marciano

|

  • Best Actress

|

|-

| colspan="4" width="100%" style="font-size:8pt" align="center" | Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

  • B Tied with Hege Schøyen for The Prompter.

Career achievement awards

Art Film Fest Awards

{| class="wikitable"

! width="4%" | Year

! width="36%" | Nominated work

! width="50%" | Category

! width="10%" | Result

|-

| 2005

| Herself

|

  • Actor's Mission Award

|

|-

| colspan="4" width="100%" style="font-size:8pt" align="center" | Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

Moscow International Film Festival

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! scope="col" style="width:1em;" | Year

! scope="col" style="width:39em;" | Category

! scope="col" style="width:5em;" | Result

|-

| 2018

| Stanislavsky Award

|

|-

| colspan="3" width="100%" style="font-size:8pt" align="center" | Note: Awards are listed in order of the effective years, annual ceremonies are usually held the following.

|}

References

  • Peter Sobczynski. "interview with Nastassja Kinski" at rogerebert.com 25 November 2014
  • Nastassja Kinski at Getty Images
  • Nastassja Kinski at alamy

Metadata

  • Nastassja Kinski at AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  • Nastassia Kinski at AFI Catalog of Feature Films