Actor Marek Probosz

Filmmaking Confidential

Marek Probosz is a preeminent film, television and stage actor in his native Poland, and likened across Eastern Europe as "the DeNiro of Poland,” Probosz has more than 50 starring roles to his credit. Many of his films have competed in key international festivals including Venice (Jerzy Skolimowski’s 30 Door Key, 1991), Cannes and Karlovy Vary (Jirí Svoboda’s award-winning End of the Lonely Farm Berghof, 1984) and San Sebastian (Frantisek Vlácil’s The Shadow of the Ferns, 1984). Probosz’s theatrical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Salome, which he wrote, directed and starred in, was cited by the Czech National Critics Poll as the No. 2 artistic event of 1986, after Sir Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning film Gandhi (1983) and ahead of Ingmar Bergman’s Oscar-winning Fanny and Alexander (1982).
In 1987, Probosz came to the United States at the invitation of American Cinematheque. Since that time, he has collaborated with such Academy Award winners and nominees as F. Murray Abraham, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Don Cheadle, Katharine Hepburn; cinematographers Conrad Hall, Ryszard Lenczewski and Matthew Libatique; composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek; directors Darren Aronofsky, Todd Field, Agnieszka Holland, Scott Silver and Andrzej Wajda; costume designer Theodor Pistek and art director Ewa Braun.
Probosz’s film and television career spans roles in Polish, Czech, German, French, Italian and American productions and co-productions. In the United States, he most recently guest-starred on CBS' Scorpion. He has also had guest-starring roles on ABC’s Scandal, CBS’ Numbers, NBC’s JAG and USA’s Monk. He received strong reviews from The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety for his portrayal of Roman Polanski in the 2004 CBS miniseries Helter Skelter.
From 2004-2009, Probosz portrayed the first homosexual character featured on Polish national television, Grzegorz Gorski, in the highly rated Polish drama L Like Love. In 2006, Probosz starred as the Polish WWII hero Witold Pilecki in The Death of Captain Pilecki, which garnered the Special Jury REMI Award at the 2007 WorldFest-Houston International Independent Film Festival and had screenings at consulates, universities and embassies throughout the world. In 2012, he recorded the audiobook The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, about Pilecki, for Audible.com, which received an IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award in 2013 and a Prose Award in 2012.
Probosz is the author of two books published in Poland: The novel Eldorado (2009) and Call Me When They Kill You (2011), a collection of short stories.
In 2011, Probosz was awarded the Mortui Sunt Ut Liberi Vivamus Bronze Medal in London and the Gold Medal Knight of Humanity in Auschwitz for his portrayal of Witold Pilecki and in recognition of his outstanding services in sharing Pilecki’s ideals of heroism beyond religion, race and time around the world. In Spring 2017, Probosz starred as Pilecki in a multimedia stage production of The Auschwitz Volunteer at American Jewish University and UCLA.