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Nastassja Kinski

Nastassja Kinski
Born in Berlin, Kinski is the daughter of the late 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.[1] Eventually they lived in a commune in Munich.

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 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 though German records show 1961. (Variety states 1960.[1]) 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". [2]

Kinski starred in an erotic film 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."[2]

At 15[3] Kinski began a romantic relationship with director Roman Polanski, 28 years her senior. Polanski urged her to study acting with Lee Strasberg in the USA and cast her in his film, Tess (1979). Shortly after this screen success, photographer Richard Avedon photographed Kinski with a serpent coiled around her naked body (1981).

In 1982 Kinski appeared as "Leila" the circus girl 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, which performed poorly at the box office and with critics. Critics praised her in Paris, Texas, and the film won awards at Cannes, but in the U.S 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 the former, and Exposed (1983), Maria's Lovers (1984) and Revolution (1985) in the latter. 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.

In the mid-1980s Kinski met Egyptian film maker Ibrahim Moussa. They married on September 10, 1984. They raised Aljosha (born June 29, 1984) and daughter Sonja Leila, now a model, born March 2, 1986. The marriage was dissolved in 1992. From 1991 until 1997 Kinski lived with music impresario Quincy Jones. On February 9, 1993 their daughter Kenya Julia Miambi Sara was born.

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).

Kinski speaks German, English, French, Italian and Russian fluently and is a vegetarian.[citation needed]

Kinski is mentioned in songs "Up On The Catwalk" by Simple Minds, though singer Jim Kerr pronounces her name incorrectly as "Natasha", and "Mani me se lepa Nasto" by Đorđe Balašević



What members say | Filmography

Nastassja Kinski - what members say


  • Tess
  • Tess review by HDX from Barry, Wales
    Rated - 5.0 stars The entrancing Tess 21 December 2010
    ...elling reasons, in Normandy rather than Dorset – and beautifully photographed). Nastassja Kinski, at the height of her loveliness, gives a compelling, entrancing, enchanting pe...   Read customer review

Nastassja Kinski - filmography


  • La Femme Musketeer on DVD (2004)
    Starring: Michael York,  Nastassja Kinski,  Gerard Depardieu
    Director: Steve Boyum
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Made-for-TV updating of the classic swashbuckler, with the daughter of France's most famous swordsman seeking fame and fortune in Paris. Growing up in the shadow of her father Jacques (Michael York), Valentine D'Artagnan (Susie Amy) has learned a trick or two from the legendary swordsman. Now ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 55% from 73 members
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  • The Day The World Ended on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Randy Quaid
    Director: Terence Gross
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    New York City therapist Dr Jennifer Stillman (Nastassja Kinski) arrives in the small Nevada town of Sierra Vista, ready to take up her new appointment as a school psychiatrist. Her first patient is a young boy named Ben (Bobby Edner), who Dr Stillman soon realises is hiding a dark secret connected ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 44% from 202 members
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  • An American Rhapsody (2001)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Scarlett Johansson,  Raffaella Bánsági
    Director: Eva Gardos
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    A Hungarian family forced to flee the Communist country for the United States, must leave a young daughter behind. Six years later the family arranges to bring the absent daughter to the United States where she has trouble adjusting. The daughter then decides to travel to Budapest to discover her ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 74% from 5 members
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  • Say Nothing on DVD (2001)
    Starring: William Baldwin,  Nastassja Kinski,  Geoffrey Bowes
    Director: Alan Moyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Psychological thriller. The marriage of Grace (Nastassja Kinski) and Matt Needham (Hart Bochner) starts to suffer when Grant loses his job and hits the bottle. Grace goes to a Miami resort for a couple of days where she meets a stranger (William Baldwin) with whom she has a 24-hour fling. She ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 39% from 131 members
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  • Rip Off on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Alyson Hannigan,  Jennifer Esposito
    Director: Gigi Gaston
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    A casino robbery - with glamorous women in charge. Misha and Lexi's boyfriends Yuri and Serge have devised a plan to rob a casino with the help of Torreti, their friend Helena's husband. But on the night of the job, Misha and Lexi fall out with Yuri and Serge, and are kicked out onto the street. ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 37% from 256 members
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  • Cold Heart on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Jeff Fahey,  Hudson Leick
    Director: Dennis Dimster
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Linda Cross (Nastassja Kinski) is a successful businesswoman with the perfect marriage, but she begin to suspects her husband (Jeff Fahey) of having an affair and her whole life is turned upside down. When a colleague hires a new P.A., Sean, Linda finds him very attractive and temptation beckons ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 41% from 157 members
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  • The Claim on DVD (2000)
    Starring: Sean McGinley,  Nastassja Kinski,  Jimmy Herman
    Director: Michael Winterbottom
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    California 1860 and prospector Daniel Dillon (Peter Mullan) has made a fortune in gold and is now running Kingdom Come, a small town built in the heart of the Sierra mountains. He wants to turn the town into a thriving city and to this end he asks Dalglish (Wes Bentley), an engineer plotting the ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 57% from 978 members
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  • Red Letters on DVD (2000)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Ernie Hudson,  Jeremy Piven
    Director: Bradley Battersby
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    Dennis Burke [Jeremy Pixen] is a brilliant college professor with a weakness for unobtainable women and enjoys the thrill of illicit affairs. This dangerous combination leads him to become involved with a convicted murderer [Natassja Kinski] who draws him into deceit and crime. Burke will stop at ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 38% from 87 members
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  • Crackerjack on DVD (2000)
    Starring: Thomas Ian Griffith,  Nastassja Kinski,  Christopher Plummer
    Director: Michael Mazo
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Action-thriller set on a mountainside and starring Thomas Ian Griffith as Jack 'Crackerjack' Wild; a cop on holiday whose vacation is rudely interrupted by Getz (Christopher Plummer). Getz is the man who killed Jack's wife and daughter, and Jack has to battle to save the rest of the holidaymakers ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 42% from 126 members
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  • The Lost Son (1999)
    Starring: Bruce Greenwood,  Nastassja Kinski,  Katrin Cartlidge
    Director: Chris Menges
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Acclaimed French actor Daniel Auteil makes his English-language debut in this tense thriller from director Chris Menges. Xavier Lombard (Auteil) is a disgraced French policeman currently living in London and working as a private investigator. His latest case involves tracking down Leon, the drug-..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 60% from 419 members
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  • Susan's Plan (1999)
    Starring: Rob Schneider,  Billy Zane,  Nastassja Kinski
    Director: John Landis
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Susan (Nastassja Kinski) is a woman who wants it all. Now that she has divorced her husband, she has her eye on the large insurance payout she will receive should he die. But her murderous plans don't take into account the fact that her hired assassins are so incompetent that they're more likely to ..read more »
    2 stars out of 5 41% from 251 members
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  • Fathers' Day on DVD (1997)
    Starring: Billy Crystal,  Nastassja Kinski,  Robin Williams
    Director: Ivan Reitman
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Married attorney Jack Lawrence (Billy Crystal) and unsuccessful writer Dale Putney (Robin Williams) each had a relationship with Colette (Nastassja Kinski) seventeen years ago. Colette, now married, tells both Jack and Dale that she thinks they might be the real father of her son, Scott (Charlie ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 55% from 1,256 member
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  • One Night Stand on DVD (1997)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Kyle MacLachlan,  Robert Downey Jr.
    Director: Mike Figgis
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    Commercial director Max Carlyle (Wesley Snipes) is on a business trip to New York when he meets Karen (Nastassja Kinski). Although both are married, they cannot resist their mutual attraction, and end up spending a night of passion together. Mike returns to his wife and two children, but becomes ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 55% from 641 members
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  • Savior on DVD (1997)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Stellan Skarsgard,  Dennis Quaid
    Director: Peter Antonijevic
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Joshua (Dennis Quaid) is a Foreign Legion soldier with a horrific past: after the fatal bombing of his family, he had gone on a murder spree in revenge, and joined the Legion to escape punishment. Finding himself in war-torn Bosnia, fighting as a mercenary for the Serbs, his conscience is pricked ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 66% from 585 members
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  • Danielle Steel's The Ring on DVD (1996)
    Starring: Michael York,  Nastassja Kinski,  Tim Dekay
    Director: Armand Mastroianni
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Ariana Von Gotthard is the daughter of a wealthy Berlin man who witnesses the way her country is being torn apart in the run up to the Second World War. Her father decides to help his children escape from Germany, and after getting his son to Switzerland, he returns to Berlin for Ariana, but is ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 61% from 651 members
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  • Somebody Is Waiting on DVD (1996)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Johnny Whitworth,  Gabriel Byrne
    Director: Martin Donovan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Charlotte Ellis (Nastassja Kinski) is a devoted mother, caring for her five children alone, following the departure of her cruel, alcoholic husband Roger (Gabriel Byrne) To make her situation worse, her son Leon (Johnny Whitworth) is going off the rails.
    2 stars out of 5 36% from 51 members
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  • Terminal Velocity on DVD (1994)
    Starring: Charlie Sheen,  Nastassja Kinski,  Christopher McDonald
    Director: Deran Sarafian
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Skydiving instructor 'Ditch' Brodie (Charlie Sheen) has his school shut down after student Chris Morrow (Nastassja Kinski) apparently plummets to her death in a jump. When Ditch investigates he discovers that Chris was in fact a highly trained skydiver, and that there was another plane in the ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 57% from 1,488 member
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  • Revolution on DVD (1985)
    Starring: Al Pacino,  Nastassja Kinski,  Annie Lennox
    Director: Hugh Hudson
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    An account of the American War of Independence, as seen through the eyes of Al Pacino's ambivalent soldier, spurred on to fight by the taunting of Nastassja Kinski and the sadism of Donald Sutherland's British officer. An epic war movie which was a disaster at the box office.
    2.5 stars out of 5 50% from 132 members
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  • Harem (1985)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Ben Kingsley,  Dennis Goldson
    Director: Arthur Joffé
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    This film's two well-known stars -- Nastassja Kinski as Diane, a sophisticated trainee on the New York Stock Exchange, and Ben Kingsley as Selim an Arab mogul -- are hard-put to bring life into this beautifully photographed but underscripted romantic drama. Diane is kidnapped and brought to Selim's ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 62% from 5 members
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  • Paris, Texas on DVD (1984)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Harry Dean Stanton,  Dean Stockwell
    Director: Wim Wenders
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Harry Dean Stanton stars as Travis Clay Henderson, an errant husband who reappears in the middle of an American desert after an absence of four years. His brother (Dean Stockwell) picks him up and Travis slowly begins to retrace the paths of his old life, getting to know his seven-year-old son ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 5,939 members
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  • The Hotel New Hampshire on DVD (1984)
    Starring: Joely Richardson,  Anita Morris,  Seth Green
    Director: Tony Richardson
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    A dark comedy, based on the best-selling novel by John Irving. The Berry family consists of Father, Mother, John (a student), Franny (the victim of a gang rape), Frank (who is gay) and Lilly. Together they run the Hotel New Hampshire in New England, but when Father's friend Freud asks them for help,..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 56% from 1,038 member
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  • Maria's Lovers on DVD (1984)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  John Savage,  Robert Mitchum
    Director: Andrei Konchalovsky
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Returning from WWII, Ivan (Savage) marries his childhood sweetheart Maria (Kinski), but things don't run as smoothly as thought. Having worshipped his future wife from afar, Ivan is unable to consummate his marriage when reality finally arrives. A film that deals with love and infidelity, pain and ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 54% from 108 members
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  • Unfaithfully Yours (1984)
    Starring: Dudley Moore,  Nastassja Kinski,  Armand Assante
    Director: Howard Zieff
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Claude Eastman, is a composer and conductor. He is married to Daniella, who is half his age. While away on a trip he told his Italian driver, Giuseppe, to tell his friend Norman to keep an eye on her, or take care of her. But his English is not too good, so Norman thought he was saying that Claude ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 48% from 5 members
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  • Spring Symphony (1983)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Rolf Hoppe,  Herbert Grönemeyer
    Director: Peter Schamoni
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    Whatever it is about 19th century composer Robert Schumann and his pianist wife Clara Wieck that fascinates film-makers, it is a strong enough fascination to prompt a retelling of the Schumanns' lives every few years. First, there was the 1947 Katharine Hepburn/Paul Henreid film vehicle Song of ..read more »
    1.5 stars out of 5 30% from 3 members
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  • One From The Heart on DVD (1982)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Raul Julia,  Allen Garfield
    Director: Francis Ford Coppola
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    After completing Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola initially planned for his next picture to be an intimate romantic musical shot on a low budget in Las Vegas. Three years later, One from the Heart had mushroomed into a big-budget spectacular, shot on strikingly stylized sets at his newly opened ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 56% from 660 members
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  • Cat People on DVD (1982)
    Starring: Ed Begley,  Malcolm McDowell,  Ed Begley Jr.
    Director: Paul Schrader
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Irena (Nastassja Kinski) is a beautiful young woman who shares a terrifying secret with her brother (Malcolm McDowell) - when sexually aroused she transforms into a panther. When Irena falls in love for the first time, her secret threatens the relationship. Can she bring herself to tell her new-..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 52% from 1,071 member
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  • Tess on DVD (1979)
    Starring: Carolyn Pickles,  Nastassja Kinski,  Arielle Dombasle
    Director: Roman Polanski
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    In Roman Polanski's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Nastassja Kinski plays Tess, a poor British peasant girl sent to live with her distant and wealthy relatives, the D'Urbervilles. Though Tess' father had hoped that the girl would be permitted a portion of the D'Urberville ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 68% from 1,873 member
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  • Tess - Blu-ray (1979)
    Starring: Carolyn Pickles,  Nastassja Kinski,  Arielle Dombasle
    Director: Roman Polanski
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    In Roman Polanski's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Nastassja Kinski plays Tess, a poor British peasant girl sent to live with her distant and wealthy relatives, the D'Urbervilles. Though Tess' father had hoped that the girl would be permitted a portion of the D'Urberville ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 27 members
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  • Wrong Move on DVD (1975)
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Rudiger Vogler,  Hans Christian Blech
    Director: Wim Wenders
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    A writer (Rudiger Vogler) attempts to get to grips with his career as he travels through Germany. Along the way he is helped by an actress (Hanna Schygulla), poet (Peter Kern) and mute juggler (Nastassja Kinski in her screen debut). This road movie, based on a novel by Goethe, forms the second part ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 62% from 252 members
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  • Blind Terror on DVD
    Starring: Nastassja Kinski,  Stewart Bick,  Gordon Pinsent
    Director: Giles Walker
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    A blind girl (Mia Farrow) is the only person alive after a maniac (who is only shown from the waist down) murders everyone on an isolated estate. Now the killer is after her... Written by Brian Clemens, of TV's `Avengers' and `Professionals' fame. Robin Bailey and Dorothy Alison co-star.
    2 stars out of 5 32% from 24 members
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Nastassja Kinski facts

5 most recent films

La Femme Musketeer - 3.0 stars
Mary Higgins Clark - All Around The Town - 2.5 stars
The Day The World Ended - 2.0 stars
Diary of a Sex Addict - 1.5 stars
An American Rhapsody - 3.5 stars

5 highest-rated films

Paris, Texas - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
Paris, Texas - 3.5 stars
Tess - 3.5 stars
Savior - 3.5 stars
Wrong Move - 3.0 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Spring Symphony - 1.5 stars
Blind Terror - 2.0 stars
Boarding School - 2.0 stars
Unfaithfully Yours - 2.5 stars
Harem - 3.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Harry Dean Stanton - 5 times - show films
Dennis Hopper - 4 times - show films
Bruno Ganz - 4 times - show films
Dean Stockwell - 4 times - show films
Nastassja Kiniski - 4 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Wim Wenders - 7 times - show films
Francis Ford Coppola - 3 times - show films
Roman Polanski - 2 times - show films
Ivan Reitman - 2 times - show films
Bradley Battersby - 2 times - show films