Born in 1933 in Paris to Polish parents, Roman Polanski grew up in Poland, where he studied at the Krakow Higher Art School as well as at the Lodz Film School. At the age of 14 he made his debut on stage and worked in a popular radio program “The Marry Gang”. Already as a teenager he acted in several films, including Andrzej Wajda’s “Generation”. At the age of 25 he shot his first short film “Two Men and a Wardrobe”, followed by “When Angels Fall”(1958), “The Fat and the Lean” (1961) and “Mammals” (1962). His first full-length picture “Knife in the Water” (1962) won the critics prize at the Film Festival in Venice and was nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign language film. His debut in English was the film “Repulsion” (1964) with Catherine Deneuve and her sister Francoise Dorleac, which won a Silver bear at the Berlin Film Festival, followed by “Cul-de-Sac” (Golden Bear, 1965). In his next picture “The Fearless Vampire Killers” (“Tanz der Vampire”, 1967) Roman Polanski played one of the key roles. His first American film was “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), then back in Europe he produced his adaptation of “Macbeth”, the comedy “What?” starring Marcello Mastroianni and “The Tenant”, in which he played the leading role. After he came back to Hollywood he shot “Chinatown” with Jack Nicholson, which was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won the Oscar for the best script. His next film “Tess” (starring Nastssja Kinski) won 3 Oscars, “Pirates” followed the thriller “Frantic” starring Harrison Ford and Emanuelle Seigner, for whom it became the debut. In 1992 soon after the marriage with Roman Polanski she played the key role in “Bitter Moon” and then in “The Ninth Gate” with Johnny Depp. Together with Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley Polanski shot “Death and the Maiden”. “The Pianist” (2003) won 3 Oscars – including for Best Director, and a Golden Palm in Cannes. Then he shot “Oliver Twist”, again with Ben Kingsley and “The Ghost” with Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan,which was shot at the island of Sylt. In 1999 he became the member of the Academy of fine arts as the successor of Marcel Carne.

Among his stage productions are the Alban  Berg’s opera “Lulu” at Spoleto Festival, Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at the Munich State Opera and “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” at Bastille Opera in Paris.

In 1981 Polanski played the key role in Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus” first in Warsaw and then in Paris. In 1996 he produced Terence McNelly’s “Masterclass” with Fanny Ardant in Paris. In 1997 the premiere of “Tanz der Vampire” took place at Raimund Theater, then the production travelled to Stuttgart and Hamburg, Berlin and Oberhausen, while other productions were staged in Estonia, Poland, Hungary and Japan. In 2003 he staged Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” with Emmanuelle Seigner, was the director of John Patrick Shanley’s “”Doubt in Paris in 2006, played in Giuseppe Tornatores “A Pure Formality” with Gerard Depardieu and the key role in Andrzej Wajda’s “The Vengeance”. In 2007 he played Brett Ratner’s “Rush Hour 3” and in 2008 he played in Antoni Luigi Grimaldi’s “Caos Calmo”.