Magdalena Cielecka (born 20 February 1972) is a Polish actress. A five-time Polish Film Award nominee, Cielecka won a Polish Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 2023 historical drama film Anxiety.

Life and career

Cielecka spent her childhood in the small town of Żarki-Letnisko. In 1995, she graduated from Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna in Kraków. Soon after, she joined the Teatr Stary Theatre Company in Kraków, where she stayed until 2001, when she moved to Warsaw and joined the Teatr Rozmaitości Theatre Company. Although she made her first cinema appearance quite early in a film by Barbara Sass called Pokuszenie (1995), she initially was known mainly for her work in theatre. A few years later she became widely recognized as an actress and she gained popularity with her cinematic roles such as Samotność w sieci or the TV series Magda M. At the 2008 Edinburgh International Festival she played the leading role in a critically acclaimed adaptation of Kane's 4.48 Psychosis by the Polish theatre company Teatr Rozmaitości. On television, she starred in Hotel 52 (2010-13), Days of Honor (2012-13), Pact (2015), Belfer (2016), The Defence (2018-2022), and A Girl and an Astronaut (2023).

Filmography