Janusz Józefowicz was born on 3rd July 1959, in Świecie, where he spent the first years of his life. He grew up in a house located on ul. Klasztorna 37.
Janusz Józefowicz is a well-known choreographer and dancer, but also a film director, screenwriter, and an actor in films, theatre, and musicals. He has graduated from the Acting Department of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw and received education in dancing at the Vocal and Dance School in Koszęcin, and also in Prague. His theatre début came in the stage play Złe wychowanie/Misbehaving, by Andrzej Strzelecki, at the Ateneum Theater in Warsaw, in 1984.
He is also a choreographer and has been the artistic director of Studio Buffo in Warsaw, since 1992. His productions always enjoy great popularity. Janusz Józefowicz is the author of the famous musical Metro, shown at the Minskoff Theater on Broadway and at the Bolshaya Opereta in Moscow. The musical was so popular in Russia that a special version of it was prepared for Russian audiences. The musical was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score, while the soundtrack sold as an album sold as a Double-Platinum record. Janusz Józefowicz selected a team of performers, who would later become artistic personalities, for example Edyta Górniak, Robert Janowski,Natasza Urbańska, or Katarzyna Groniec.
In 2004, Józefowicz created the musical Romeo and Juliet, based on the drama written by William Shakespeare, in which he was both its director and choreographer. Critics called the musical a modern version of the drama. On stage, the actors use contemporary slang of the young generation, elements of break dance are incorporated, and there are also some stun acts.
Janusz Józefowicz is also a talented teacher, who gives classes at the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw and in West Berlin, at Bucerius Kunst Forum, or in the form of the so-called “Mode-Theater”. He has also created the Artistic Studio “Metro”, which provides young people with an opportunity to participate in vocal lessons, practice classical and modern dance, tap dance, and acrobatics.
Janusz Józefowicz has also appeared in a number of interesting films. For example, you can see him in Sztos directed by Olaf Lubaszenko, in which he plays Adaś, friend of Eryk (Jan Nowicki), one of the main protagonists in the film, who cheats people in currency exchanges.
In Poranek kojota/Coyote’s Morning (2001), another film directed by Olaf Lubaszenko, he played a gangster going by the name of “Dziki”, who one of the main protagonists in the film owes a substantial amount of money. This action comedy also features performances by well-known actors, such as Jerzy Stuhr and Michał Milowicz. Janusz Józefowicz was also cast for the comedy Superprodukcja/Superproduction, directed by Juliusz Machulski, in which he played alongside such great Polish film stars as Krystyna Janda, Piotr Fronczewski, or Rafał Królikowski.
In 1995, he played the main character in the political drama Gracze/Players directed by Ryszard Bugajski. The film is set during a presidential election of 1990 and we see Jan Gracz, an oppositionist and filmmaker, who decides to take the helm and run the television electoral campaign for Lech Wałęsa. The main protagonist gets involved in a political game, which is often unfair and based on pure propaganda.
Janusz Józefowicz also played in a number of TV productions, including, for example, Fala Zbrodni, Niania, or Klan.
Selected Filmography
Selected Awards
International Journalists’ Prize – for choreography in the stage play Złe wychowanie/Misbehaving; Festival of Theatre Schools in Łódź – special mention for the role of Marco in the stage play Widok z mostu/A View from the Bridge; Stanisław Wyspiański Award – artistic personality; Award of “Sukces” Monthly Magazine – “Bull of Success” Award for outstanding achievements in art (1991); Journalists’ Award in Opole (1993) – achievements in stage performance; 19th edition of Przegląd Piosenki Aktorskiej (Polish festival of singing actors) in Wrocław – Master’s Diploma, “Gold Mask” for the best director in the 1999/2000 season; “Legend of Musical” Award in Moscow; “Gold Mask” for directing the stage play Legalna Blondynka/Legally Blond; Daegu International Musical Festival (DIMF) in South Korea – Grand Prix for the best musical Polita