Kożuchowska Małgorzata

Małgorzata Kożuchowska is one of the most-popular Polish actresses, and a star of Polish show business. A stage, film, and television actress, winner of the Golden Duck Award and two Telekamera Awards. She was honoured with a Katarzynka (a plaque in the shape of a Toruń gingerbread) in the Boulevard of Stars in Toruń, and the Super Jantar Award at The Youth and Film – the Festival of Film Debuts in Koszalin for the debut of the decade. She is widely recognisable for many of her roles, and has won the audience’s heart particularly with the character of Hanka Mostowiak in the soap opera entitled M jak miłość/L is for Love.

Ms Kożuchowska was born in 1971 in Wrocław, but she spent her entire childhood in Toruń, where she graduated from Secondary School No. 5. During her high-school years, she performed at the school of talents in Toruń – Studio P., run by Lucyna Sowińska, operating at the Youth Culture Centre in Toruń. Her co-stars included Magdalena Czerwińska and Joanna Koroniewska.

In 1994, she graduated from the State Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw.
After graduation, she performed on various stages, including the Dramatyczny Theatre in Warsaw, in plays such as Magia grzechu/The Sorceries of Sin, Opera żebracza/The Beggar’s Opera, Obsługiwałem angielskiego króla/I Served the King of England and Poskromienie złośnicy/The Taming of the Shrew directed by Warlikowski. Over 10 years later, she joined the National Theatre, where she performed in Błądzenie po peryferiach/The Wandering, Kosmos/Cosmos and Kotka na gorącym blaszanym dachu/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She has always emphasised that being a stage actress is very important to her.

Her first film was a picture entitled Ptaszka/Birdie, directed in 1994 by Krystyna Krupska-Wysocka; however, it did not première until two years later. Therefore, Oczy niebieskie/Blue Eyes, directed in 1994 by Waldemar Szarek, is considered to be her screen debut.

In 1995, she appeared in Młode wilki/Fast Lane, where she played Marzena, a secretary. Her next film was Gry uliczne/Street Games, directed by Krzysztof Krauze. She started to enjoy real, widespread, popularity after portraying Ewa Szańska, a journalist, in a comedy film entitled Kiler/Killer by Juliusz Machulski. For this performance, she received the Super Jantar Award for the best acting debut of the last decade at The Youth and Film – the Festival of Film Debuts in Koszalin.

In the subsequent years, she played in a number of films, including Kilerów 2-óch/Two Killers (1999), Zróbmy sobie wnuka/Let’s Make a Grandson (2003), Komornik/The Collector (2005), Dlaczego nie!/Why not! (2007), Senność/Drowsiness (2008), Listy do M. 2/Letters to Santa 2 (2015) and Kochaj!/Love! (2016). In 2007, she starred in Hania the directorial debut of Janusz Kamiński, winner of three Academy Awards for Best Cinematography. The film is a universal story about the emotions brewing between two people. She also played in a number of foreign productions, such as Living & Dying by Jon Keeyes, alongside Michael Madsen, and a Czech picture by Juraj Herz entitled Tma. In the nearest future, she is going to appear in an international film entitled Music, War and Love by Martha Coolidge, where she plays the role of Joanna Pułaski, a painter, and mother of one of the protagonists.

She is loved by her fans primarily for her performances in television series.
Between 2000 and 2011, she played the role of Hanka Mostowiak in a soap opera entitled M jak miłość/L is for Love, broadcast by the TVP2 television station. Since 2011, she has been portraying Natalia Boska in Rodzinka.pl. In Nowa/New, a series directed by a Bydgoszcz native, Tomasz Szafrański, she played the role of a police inspector. She also appeared as Maria Okońska, a methodical prosecutor, in a television series entitled Prawo Agaty/True Law, shot – among other locations – in Bydgoszcz, where her co-star was another actress from Toruń, Magdalena Czerwińska.

Currently, Kożuchowska is playing the leading role of Monika Borecka in Druga szansa/Second Chance and continues to star in Rodzinka.pl.

Małgorzata Kożuchowska is also a singer – in 2006, she recorded an album with the musicians from the Futro band. She has also lent her voice to a number of productions, including all Madagascar films, Potwory i spółka/Monsters, Inc. and Alicja w Krainie Czarów/Alice in Wonderland. Moreover, she actively participates in a number of charities – for 10 years, she has been an ambassador for the Mam Marzenie Foundation, inspired by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Selected filmography

• 1994 – „Ptaszka”/„Birdie” dir. Krystyna Krupska-Wysocka
• 1994 – „Oczy niebieskie”/„Blue Eyes” dir. Waldemar Szarek
• 1995 – „Młode wilki”/„The Fast Lane” dir. Jarosław Żamojda
• 1996 – „Gry uliczne”/„Street Games” dir. Krzysztof Krauze
• 1997 – „Kiler”/„Killer” dir. Juliusz Machulski
• 1999 – „Kiler-ów 2-óch”/„Two Killers” dir. Juliusz Machulski
• 2001 – „Wtorek”/„Tuesday” dir. Witold Adamek
• 2003 – „Superprodukcja”/„Superproduction” dir. Juliusz Machulski
• 2003 – „Zróbmy sobie wnuka”/„Let’s Make a Grandson” dir. Piotr Wereśniak
• 2005 – „Komornik”/„The Collector” dir. Feliks Falk
• 2007 – „Dlaczego nie!”/„Why not!” dir. Ryszard Zatorski
• 2007 – „Hania” dir. Janusz Kamiński
• 2008 – „Senność”/„Drowsiness” dir. Magdalena Piekorz
• 2009 – „Tma” dir. Juraj Herz
• 2015 – „Listy do M. 2″/„Letters to Santa 2″ dir. Maciej Dejczer
• 2016 – „Kochaj!”/„Love!” dir. Marta Plucińska

Selected awards and distinctions

Telekamera 2004 for Best Actress – an award given by the readers of the TeleTydzień periodical; the Golden Duck Award for Best Polish Actress in 2003; Telekamera 2005 for Best Actress – an award given by the readers of the TeleTydzień periodical; the Super Jantar Award for the best acting debut of the last decade in Kiler/Killer – The Youth and Film – the Festival of Film Debuts in Koszalin; the Crystal Boar Award – the Film Directing Festival in Świdnica; award of the editorial team of the Twój Styl periodical – Kobieta z Klasą (Classy Woman); Flisak – the Award of the President of Toruń at the TOFIFEST International Film Festival; the Golden Puppy Award for Best Screen Character in a series entitled Rodzinka.pl – the Tadeusz Szymków Film Acting Festival in Wrocław; the Grand Prix for ICH CZWORO/FOUR OF THEM – the Two Theatres Festival of the Polish Radio and Television in Sopot, and others.