Anna Dymna
Encyclopedia
Anna Dymna ' (born July 20, 1951 in Legnica
, Poland
) is a Polish
TV, film and theatre actress. Foundress of a charity foundation Mimo Wszystko (Against the Odds). She was born to a Polish family with Armenian
roots ( - Anna Dziadyk).
before she decided to sit an entrance examination for the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
in Cracow
. While still at studies, Dymna already performed at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Cracow. In 1969 she played the role of Isia and Chochoł in the performances of Stanisław Wyspiański's Wesele. Dymna made her film debut also when she was still a student. She admittedly played a role in Henryk Kluba's Pięć i pół bladego Józka (1971) but, because that film was actually never shown on screens, her first official film role is considered to be the role of Gabrysia in the same year's Szerokiej drogi, kochanie directed by Andrzej J. Piotrowski. Dymna became popular with television viewers owing to her role of Klarysa in a TV series Janosik
(1973). The later role of Ania Pawlak in Polish cult comedy film
s Nie ma mocnych and Kochaj, albo rzuć turned out to be even more successful. She also appeared in a number of Jerzy Hoffman
's melodrama
films.
Dymna was employed by the National Helena Modrzejewska Old Theatre in Cracow immediately after her graduation in 1973 and has performed on its stage since then. Her major roles included characters of beautiful women, e.g. Kora in Noc listopadowa ("November night"); Anna in Warszawianka ("The Varsovian lady"); and Ania in The Cherry Orchard
by Anton Chekhov
. Later she also performed in Thomas Mann
's The Magic Mountain
; Joyce
's Exiles
; and The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov
.
Dymna has played about 250 theatrical and film roles. She has been esteemed for her talent and looks which "emanated with freshness, naturalness, girlishness and charm". Her photographs decorated covers of magazines, but her beauty became, in a way, an obstacle for portrayals of more mature characters. Such a possibility emerged in the second half of 1980s when she experienced physical change related with motherhood.
In 2002 Dymna initiated the Cracow Poetry Salon, which has become a weekly reading of poetry
by most distinguished actors and poets. The Salon takes place each Sunday at Juliusz Słowacki Theatre but it already has its separate branches in some other cities of Poland
, e.g. in Częstochowa
, Gdańsk
, Opole
and Tarnów
. The Cracow Poetry Salon was granted the Nike Award
in 2003 for "the most interesting cultural activity in the region".
for many years. In 1999 she started co-operation with the St. Brother Albert Foundation which organizes charity performances with therapists and their disabled charges. Two years later she originated the "Albertiana" National Festival of Theatre and Musical Works of Disabled Persons.
Finally, in the year 2003 Dymna established her own charity foundation, called Mimo Wszystko ("Against the Odds") which aims at improvement in the living conditions of the poor and disabled people. This aim is to be achieved by gradual diminishment of mental barriers that exist between the disabled and the healthy citizens of society, as well as by equalising opportunities for them.
Dymna is also the co-author of a TV program Spotkajmy się ("Let's meet"), in which she talks with her ill and disabled guests about "love, acceptance, loneliness, happiness, faith and hope". The program is produced in an intimate and peaceful atmosphere.
She also supported actions focused on help for the refugee
s from Kosovo
.
istic achievements, including the Golden Mask
(1996, 1999, 2000); the Golden Screen in 1984; and the Golden Lions in 1994. The President of the Republic of Poland
awarded her with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
in 2004. Disabled children granted her the Order of the Smile for her charity involvement in the same year.
Other noticeable awards for Anna Dymna include:
, the favourite band of her son, to write three songs on the basis of Wiesław Dymny's texts.
She remarried in 1983 to Zbigniew Szota and they had a son, Michał (born 1986). They divorced in 1989. Later on she got married for the third time. Her current husband, Krzysztof Orzechowski, is an actor and theatre director.
Legnica
Legnica is a town in south-western Poland, in Silesia, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the plain of Legnica, riverside: Kaczawa and Czarna Woda. Between 1 June 1975 and 31 December 1998 Legnica was the capital of the Legnica Voivodeship. It is currently the seat of the county...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) is a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
TV, film and theatre actress. Foundress of a charity foundation Mimo Wszystko (Against the Odds). She was born to a Polish family with Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
roots ( - Anna Dziadyk).
Artistic career
Anna Dymna intended to study psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
before she decided to sit an entrance examination for the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts
Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts , located in Kraków, Poland, was founded in 1946 by a well-known Polish actor, Juliusz Osterwa, who took the initial steps leading to the establishment of the Academy through the amalgamation of three local studios, the Theatre Actors' Studio at...
in Cracow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. While still at studies, Dymna already performed at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Cracow. In 1969 she played the role of Isia and Chochoł in the performances of Stanisław Wyspiański's Wesele. Dymna made her film debut also when she was still a student. She admittedly played a role in Henryk Kluba's Pięć i pół bladego Józka (1971) but, because that film was actually never shown on screens, her first official film role is considered to be the role of Gabrysia in the same year's Szerokiej drogi, kochanie directed by Andrzej J. Piotrowski. Dymna became popular with television viewers owing to her role of Klarysa in a TV series Janosik
Janosik (TV series)
Janosik was a television series that aired in Poland in 1974. It is about a famous Polish highlander outlaw who in folk legends steals money and goods from the rich and helps out the poor....
(1973). The later role of Ania Pawlak in Polish cult comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
s Nie ma mocnych and Kochaj, albo rzuć turned out to be even more successful. She also appeared in a number of Jerzy Hoffman
Jerzy Hoffman
Jerzy Hoffman is a Polish film director and screenwriter. He is the father of early Macintosh development team member Joanna Hoffman.-Selected filmography:*Battle of Warsaw 1920...
's melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
films.
Dymna was employed by the National Helena Modrzejewska Old Theatre in Cracow immediately after her graduation in 1973 and has performed on its stage since then. Her major roles included characters of beautiful women, e.g. Kora in Noc listopadowa ("November night"); Anna in Warszawianka ("The Varsovian lady"); and Ania in The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
by Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
. Later she also performed in Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
's The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain is a novel by Thomas Mann, first published in November 1924. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of 20th century German literature....
; Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's Exiles
Exiles (play)
Exiles is a play by James Joyce, who is principally remembered for his novels. It draws on the story of "The Dead", the final short story in Joyce's first major work, Dubliners, and was rejected by W. B. Yeats for production by the Abbey Theatre...
; and The Master and Margarita
The Master and Margarita
The Master and Margarita is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, woven around the premise of a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union. Many critics consider the book to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and one of the foremost Soviet satires, directed against a...
by Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
.
Dymna has played about 250 theatrical and film roles. She has been esteemed for her talent and looks which "emanated with freshness, naturalness, girlishness and charm". Her photographs decorated covers of magazines, but her beauty became, in a way, an obstacle for portrayals of more mature characters. Such a possibility emerged in the second half of 1980s when she experienced physical change related with motherhood.
In 2002 Dymna initiated the Cracow Poetry Salon, which has become a weekly reading of poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
by most distinguished actors and poets. The Salon takes place each Sunday at Juliusz Słowacki Theatre but it already has its separate branches in some other cities of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, e.g. in Częstochowa
Czestochowa
Częstochowa is a city in south Poland on the Warta River with 240,027 inhabitants . It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of Częstochowa Voivodeship...
, Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, Opole
Opole
Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...
and Tarnów
Tarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
. The Cracow Poetry Salon was granted the Nike Award
Nike Award
The NIKE Literary Award is one of the most prestigious awards for Polish literature. Established in 1997 and funded by Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's second largest daily paper, and the consulting company NICOM, it is conferred annually in October for the best book of a single living author writing in...
in 2003 for "the most interesting cultural activity in the region".
Charity work
Dymna has been involved in charityCharity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
for many years. In 1999 she started co-operation with the St. Brother Albert Foundation which organizes charity performances with therapists and their disabled charges. Two years later she originated the "Albertiana" National Festival of Theatre and Musical Works of Disabled Persons.
Finally, in the year 2003 Dymna established her own charity foundation, called Mimo Wszystko ("Against the Odds") which aims at improvement in the living conditions of the poor and disabled people. This aim is to be achieved by gradual diminishment of mental barriers that exist between the disabled and the healthy citizens of society, as well as by equalising opportunities for them.
Dymna is also the co-author of a TV program Spotkajmy się ("Let's meet"), in which she talks with her ill and disabled guests about "love, acceptance, loneliness, happiness, faith and hope". The program is produced in an intimate and peaceful atmosphere.
She also supported actions focused on help for the refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s from Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
.
Awards
Anna Dymna has received many important awards for her artArt
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
istic achievements, including the Golden Mask
Golden Mask
The Golden Mask is a Russian theatre festival and the National Theatre Award established in 1994 by the Theatre Union of Russia. The award is given to productions in all genres of theatre art: drama, opera, ballet, operetta and musical, and puppet theatre. It presents the most significant...
(1996, 1999, 2000); the Golden Screen in 1984; and the Golden Lions in 1994. The President of the Republic of Poland
President of the Republic of Poland
The President of the Republic of Poland is the Polish head of state. His or her rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Poland....
awarded her with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta is one of Poland's highest Orders. The Order can be conferred for outstanding achievements in the fields of education, science, sport, culture, art, economics, defense of the country, social work, civil service, or for furthering good relations between countries...
in 2004. Disabled children granted her the Order of the Smile for her charity involvement in the same year.
Other noticeable awards for Anna Dymna include:
- Silver Cross of Merit (1989)
- Golden DuckZłota KaczkaZłota Kaczka is a Polish award presented by the monthly Film since 1956.- Złota Kaczka for best movie :* 1956: Sprawa pilota Maresza* 1957: Kanał* 1958: Popiół i diament* 1959: Pociąg* 1960: Krzyżacy...
(1993) - Aleksandra Zelwerowicz Award (1994)
- Brother Albert’s Medal (2000)
- Superwiktor (2004)
- Friend of Integration (2004)
- Ecce Homo Order (2005)
- Polish Doctors' Society Medal of Merit (2006)
- St. George's Medal (2006)
- The Great Orchestra of Christmas CharityGreat Orchestra of Christmas CharityThe Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity is one of the biggest, non-governmental, non-profit, charity organizations in Poland...
Foundation Medal (2007) - Woman of the Year 2006 of the Twój Styl magazine (2007)
- Benemerenti Diploma (2007)
- Super Lodołamacz (2007)
Private life
Dymna was married to an artist Wiesław Dymny from 1973 until his death in 1978. She often emphasized the impact her first husband had on her, owing to his colourful personality. On the 20th anniversary of his death, she asked Big CycBig Cyc
Big Cyc is a Polish rock band formed in 1988.The band is well known in Poland for their controversial behaviour. The cover of their first album, Z partyjnym pozdrowieniem , was an image of Vladimir Lenin with a Mohawk hairstyle...
, the favourite band of her son, to write three songs on the basis of Wiesław Dymny's texts.
She remarried in 1983 to Zbigniew Szota and they had a son, Michał (born 1986). They divorced in 1989. Later on she got married for the third time. Her current husband, Krzysztof Orzechowski, is an actor and theatre director.