Beata Pozniak Daniels

Already a well-established Polish and European artist, Beata Pozniak Daniels was discovered by the U.S. audiences when Oliver Stone cast her in JFK (1991) as Marina Oswald. This memorable role in an Academy Award-nominated film was her U.S. feature debut and it led to her appearances in over 30 film and TV projects worldwide. She soon became known for playing intense, edgy characters like the first female President of the World in Babylon 5 (1994) a fiery young revolutionary in George Lucas's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992), as well as a mad scientist Ludmilla in "Dark Skies" and as Eva in "Pensacola". Other "gutsy" roles have included Paramount's "JAG" where she appeared as an exotic Israeli spy and explored a relationship with an African American officer. In the hit TV series Melrose Place (1992) she created a ground-breaking character, Dr. Katya Fielding, a "straight" woman and mother who decides to marry a gay man - the role that is still very much talked about, making Beata one of the show's most popular former cast members. Her other diverse roles include Masha in Mad About You (1992), Raisa on The Drew Carey Show (1995) and Tambor, the Japanese nanny in Oliver Stone's Wild Palms (1993) mini-series. In the CBS movie of the week "A Mother's Gift" she was seen as a character that aged thirty years, whereas in in a World War II drama entitled "Miriam" she played a Catholic woman who risks her life to save a Jewish girl from the Nazis. Embracing new technologies, Pozniak starred in an interactive movie, "Psychic Detective" (Colossal Pictures/Electronic Arts), the first CD-ROM screened as a feature film in a major film festival (Mill Valley Festival, followed by presentations at Sundance and Berlin film festivals). Amongst many awards she received in her career, she was the Recipient of the Croatian Heart Award (with Michael York and John Savage) for her heartfelt performance in the film "Freedom From Despair" as well as for her dedication to humanitarian causes.Beata's artistic achievements are not limited to being an actress. Her directorial debut was a short film Mnemosyne praised by LA Weekly: "the multi-talented Pozniak rapidly inter-cuts news footage of violence with live models and her own sensual sculptures to express a fierce moral sense." Beyond cinema, Beata is also an accomplished painter and sculptress. Her artworks combine the choreographic traditions of theater with symbolic and surreal imagery of painting and sculpture. In her early mask series, Pozniak connects an ancient and mythological theatrical device with the surrealism of Man Ray to produce a stunning range of fantastical masks made from feathers and other found objects. Her more recent paintings and sculptures explore the collision of ancient myths and the modern world. By combining imagery reminiscent of surrealist dreamscapes with found objects these works challenge our notions of continuity between past and present.Through her art Pozniak often explores what it is to be a woman in today's world with recurring themes of women's rights, social justice and women's history. She founded Theater Discordia which was featured at Los Angeles Theater Festival and which evolved, with the participation of Peter Sellars, into a celebrated venue for experimental theater works.One of Pozniak's significant political efforts was to instigate with Congresswoman Maxine Waters the introduction of the first bill in the history of the U.S. Congress for national recognition of the holiday (H.J. Res. 316) designating March 8th as International Women's Day. Furthermore, Beata established a non-profit educational organization Women's Day USA, which aims to raise a public awareness of women's inspirational achievements all over the world. In January 2012, Beata was appointed by Screen Actors Guild's President to serve on the Women's Committee. Beata is also very active in the Los Angeles film industry and she frequently sits on judging panels for the Television Academy, Primetime Emmy Awards and has been a Celebrity Presenter for the IFP (Independent Feature Project West) "Independent Spirit Awards," The Firebird Awards. She also presented posthumously an Award to Audrey Hepburn at the Human Rights Film Festival supported by the United Nations.Born in Gdansk, Poland, Beata received her MFA with High Honors from PWSTViT Film School in Lodz. While still in school, she made her debut as Todzia in a hit TV series Zycie Kamila Kuranta (1981) based on a classic novel "Wspolny pokoj". After that success she was invited to star in a romantic poetic program "Deszcz" singing Galczynski's poetry with Michal Bajor to the music of Marek Grechuta and Andrzej Szpilman (whom Roman Polanski depicted in The Pianist (2002)). She played Ofelia in a unique genre, theater made for television, Przedstawienie Hamleta we wsi Glucha Dolna (1985). This film was selected to be part of The Golden Hundred Best Films ever -"Zlota Setka Teatru TV." Her recent appearances on Polish TV include a recurring role in one of the most popular TV series Zlotopolscy (1997) and a guest-starring role in a TV series Ojciec Mateusz (2008) as Ewa Pol, as a Hollywood star, who disappears under mysterious circumstances while visiting a luxurious spa.Beata alternates between appearances in Polish and American film, TV and theater productions, also traveling intensively on behalf of her humanitarian and social initiatives. Show less «