Beata Poźniak

Early life

Poźniak was born in Gdańsk, Poland. Her mother was born in Wilno, Poland (now Lithuania). Her early childhood found Pozniak in England where she went to school. She passed her entrance exam to the National Film School in Łódź PWSFTViT with the highest score in the country, and received a master's degree with High Honors at age 22. Her very first film role was as an extra in the Academy Award winning film The Tin Drum which happened to be filming near her home. She later made many film appearances and worked as a fashion model and was the calendar girl for Poland's national soccer team. For many years she worked under the name Beata Pozniak. After birth of her son, she changed it officially to Beata Pozniak Daniels.

Film and television work

Pozniak was discovered by the U.S. audiences when Oliver Stone cast her in JFK 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, Earth Alliance President Susanna Luchenko in “Babylon 5”, a fiery young revolutionary in George Lucas’ “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”, as well as a sharp 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, a double agent working for the Mossad and CIA. In the television series "Melrose Place" 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 Pozniak one of the show's most popular former cast members. Her other diverse roles include Masha in "Mad About You", Raisa on “The Drew Carey Show” and Tambor, the Japanese nanny in Oliver Stone's "Wild Palms" miniseries. In the CBS movie of the week "A Mother's Gift" she was seen as a character that aged thirty years, whereas 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. She also stars as Laina in the interactive movie/video game Psychic Detective, released in 1995.

Theatre and Performance Art

Seeking a new voice for herself in a uniquely contemporary style that declares “anything is possible,” she founded Theater Discordia. Creating performance-art pieces that have been part of the L.A. Theatre Festival, and the L.A. Poetry Festival, she directed and wrote “Poeticus Umbilicus", “Poetry Discordia”, “Return of Umbilicus", “We & They” and “Changing Flags." Her Theater Discordia evolved, with the participation of Peter Sellars, into a celebrated venue for experimental theater works.

Art

Pozniak is also a painter, and continues to work in film, often appearing in experimental and independent productions, several of which she has also directed. In her directorial debut which was a short film “Mnemosyne” she used several art pieces made by her. Praised by F.X. Feeney LA Weekly: “the multitalented Pozniak rapidly intercuts news footage of violence with live models and her own sensual sculptures to express a fierce moral sense. ”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. 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. Pozniak says: “Surrealism is a lens through which I view many of the events and circumstances occurring in the world today. Whether it is the horrors of war or inspirational insights found in ancient mythology, I am constantly exploring fantastical juxtapositions that express something about the experience of being a woman. That is why my paintings and sculptures are often surreal and full of symbolism. Feministic, poetical, and political.”

Activism

Beginning in the late 1980s, soon after her arrival in America, Pozniak began a campaign to get the US Government to recognize International Women's Day. She was very successful, and she accomplished 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 8 as International Women’s Day occurred on March 8, 1994. She made the headlines of Los Angeles Times The Los Angeles Times who hailed her as "Taking the Banner For Women Everywhere". Furthermore, Pozniak 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. She is currently working on other projects through her non-profit organization that help bring awareness to third world issues.

Pozniak lives in Beverly Hills, California in a home once owned by Errol Flynn.

Audiobooks

http://www.booksontape.com/narrator/?id=156649