Nastassja Kinski (born January 24, 1961) is a
German-born
American-based actress who has appeared in more than 60 films. Her starring roles include her
Golden Globe Award-winning portrayal of the title character in
Tess and her roles in two
erotic films (
Stay As You Are and
Cat People), as well as parts in
Wim Wenders' films
The Wrong Move,
Paris, Texas, and
Faraway, So Close!. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Kinski was widely regarded as an international
sex symbol:
Richard Avedon's photo of her, nude with a large python, marketed as a poster.
Early life
Born in
Berlin as
Nastassja Aglaia Nakszyński, Kinski is the daughter of the German actor
Klaus Kinski from his marriage to actress Ruth Brigitte Tocki. Her parents divorced in 1968. Kinski rarely saw her father after the age of 10. Kinski and her mother struggled financially. They eventually lived in a
commune in
Munich.
Career
Kinski's career began in
Germany where she started as a
model. At 13, the
German New Wave actress
Lisa Kreuzer placed her in the role of the dumb
Mignon in
Wim Wenders' film
The Wrong Move. In 1976 she had her first major role in the feature film length and
Wolfgang Petersen directed episode
Reifezeugnis of the German TV crime series
Tatort. Also in 1976, in her mid-teens, she starred in the
British Hammer Film Productions' horror film
To the Devil a Daughter (1976). Kinski has gained notoriety through nude appearances in these films while still a minor. This is linked to controversy as to the year of her birth, apparently reported to American authorities as 1959, although German records purportedly indicate 1961.
Variety cited 1960.). She has stated that, as a child, she felt exploited by the industry and told a journalist from
W Magazine,
"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."Kinski starred in
Stay as you are (1978) with
Marcello Mastroianni.
New Line Cinema released it in the
United States in December 1979, helping Kinski to get more recognition there.
Time Magazine said:
"Kinski is simply ravishing, genuinely sexy and high-spirited without being painfully aggressive about it." Director
Roman Polanski urged Kinski to study acting with
Lee Strasberg in the
United States and cast her in his film,
Tess (1979). In 1981, photographer
Richard Avedon photographed Kinski with a serpent coiled around her naked body.
In 1982 Kinski appeared in the
Francis Ford Coppola/
Dean Tavoularis collaboration
One from the Heart, which
bankrupted Coppola's
American Zoetrope studio. In 1982 she made
Cat People, and then
Unfaithfully Yours, and
The Hotel New Hampshire, a critical and commercial failure. Critics praised her in
Paris, Texas, which won awards at
Cannes. In the United States, however, the film was not widely released. Kinski then 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 U.S. Kinski's luck turned in the 1990s when she appeared in films such as
Terminal Velocity opposite
Charlie Sheen, and
Mike Figgis' critically acclaimed
One Night Stand.
Appearances of note have included
Martin Donovan's
Somebody Is Waiting (1996),
Neil LaBute's
Your Friends & Neighbors (1998),
John Landis'
Susan's Plan (1998),
Chris Menges'
The Lost Son (1999),
Michael Winterbottom's
The Claim (2000), and
David Lynch's
Inland Empire (2006).
Personal life
At 15 Kinski's romantic relationship with director
Roman Polanski began.
In the mid-1980s Kinski met
Egyptian filmmaker Ibrahim Moussa. They married on September 10,1984. They raised her son (by actor
Vincent Spano), Aljosha (born June 29, 1984) and daughter, Sonja Kinski, now a
model (born March 2, 1986). The marriage was dissolved in 1992. From 1991 until 1997 Kinski lived with musician
Quincy Jones. On February 9, 1993, their daughter, Kenya Julia Miambi Sara Jones, was born.
Kinski speaks
German,
French,
English,
Italian and
Russian fluently.
Selected filmography
