Roman Polanski
Directing • Born 1933-08-18
Biography
Roman Polański (born 18 August 1933) is a Polish-French film director, producer, writer and actor. Born in Paris to Polish parents, Polański relocated with his family to Poland in 1937. After surviving the Holocaust, he continued his education in Poland and became a critically acclaimed director of both art house and commercial films. Polański's first feature-length film, Knife in the Water (1962), made in Poland, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has since received five more Oscar nominations, and in 2002 received the Academy Award for Best Director for his film, The Pianist. He has also been the recipient of two Baftas, four Césars, a Golden Globe and the Palme d'Or. He left Poland in 1961 to live in France for several years, then moved to the United Kingdom where he collaborated with Gérard Brach on three films, beginning with Repulsion (1965). In 1968 he moved to the United States, immediately cementing his burgeoning directing status with the 1968 groundbreaking Academy Award winning horror film Rosemary's Baby. In 1969, Polański's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered while staying at the Polańskis' Benedict Canyon home above Los Angeles by members of the Manson Family. Following Tate's death, Polański returned to Europe and spent much of his time in Paris and Gstaad, but did not make another film until he filmed Macbeth (1971) in England. The following year he went to Italy to make What? (1973) and subsequently spent the next five years living near Rome. However, he traveled to Hollywood to direct Chinatown (1974) for Paramount Pictures, with Robert Evans serving as producer. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and was a critical and box-office success; the script by Robert Towne won for Best Original Screenplay. Polański's next film, The Tenant (1976), was shot in France, and completed the "Apartment Trilogy", following Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. In 1977, after a photo shoot in Los Angeles, Polański was arrested for the sexual abuse of a 13 year old girl. He was charged with rape but pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. To avoid sentencing, Polański fled to his home in London, and then moved on to France the following day. He has had a U.S. arrest warrant outstanding since then, and an international arrest warrant since 2005. Polański continued to make films such as The Pianist (2002), a World War II-set adaptation of Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman's autobiography of the same name, which echoed some of Polański's earlier life experiences. Like Szpilman, Polański escaped the ghetto and the concentration camps while family members were killed. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Director, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, and seven French César Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. He then released the successful films Oliver Twist (2005), To Each His Own Cinema (2007), and The Ghost Writer (2010), completed while under house arrest. In September 2009, Polański was arrested by Swiss police, at the request of U.S. authorities, when he traveled to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. In October 2009, the U.S. requested his extradition; however, on July 12, 2010, the Swiss rejected that request and instead declared him a "free man" after releasing him from custody.
Filmography
135 credits
The Fearless Vampire Killers
Movie • 1967
Alfred
Chinatown
Movie • 1974
Man with Knife
Rush Hour 3
Movie • 2007
Det. Revi
Playboy: The Story of X
Movie • 1998
Self (archive footage)
Quiet Chaos
Movie • 2008
Steiner
An Officer and a Spy
Movie • 2019
Concertgoer (uncredited)
The Magic Christian
Movie • 1969
Solitary Drinker
The Tenant
Movie • 1976
Trelkovsky
Knife in the Water
Movie • 1962
Young Man (voice)
Tonite Let's All Make Love in London
Movie • 1967
Self
A Generation
Movie • 1955
Mundek
Close Up
Movie • 2012
Self (archive footage)
Innocent Sorcerers
Movie • 1960
Dudzio
A Pure Formality
Movie • 1994
Inspector
What?
Movie • 1972
Mosquito
The Family
Movie • 2023
Self
Wraki
Movie • 1957
Romek
The Lamp
Movie • 1959
A passer-by (uncredited)
Tribute to Alfred Lepetit
Movie • 2000
Self
When Angels Fall
Movie • 1959
Vieille femme
Bad Luck
Movie • 1960
Tutor (uncredited)
Kanal
Movie • 1957
Resistance Member pushed into a Sewer (uncredited)
Manson: Music from an Unsound Mind
Movie • 2019
Self (archive footage)
Nikodem Dyzma
Movie • 1956
Porter (uncredited)
Con bravura
Movie • 1972
Caroler
The Fat and the Lean
Movie • 1961
the lean
Elle s'appelait Françoise
Movie • 1996
Self
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
Movie • 2014
Self (archive footage)
Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir
Movie • 2012
Self
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Movie • 2008
Self (archive footage)
Seduced and Abandoned
Movie • 2013
Self
Weekend of a Champion
Movie • 1972
Self
Il falso bugiardo
Movie • 2008
Self (archive footage)
Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
The Last Days of Sharon Tate
Movie • 1999
Self (archive footage)
Rosemary's Baby: A Retrospective
Movie • 2000
Self
Mia and Roman
Movie • 1968
Himself
Ciao, Federico!
Movie • 1970
Self (uncredited)
Last Pictures
Movie • 2000
Self
Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out
Movie • 2012
Self (archive footage)
Good Bye, Till Tomorrow
Movie • 1960
Romek
Blood for Dracula
Movie • 1974
Gambler
Weekend of a Champion
Movie • 2013
Himself
Clive James Meets Roman Polanski
Movie • 1984
Carnage
Movie • 2011
Neighbor
Françoise Dorléac, une promesse
Movie • 2018
Self
Two Men and a Wardrobe
Movie • 1958
Bad Boy
Komeda: A Soundtrack for a Life
Movie • 2010
Self
Back in the USSR
Movie • 1992
Kurilov
Sharon Tate: Murdered Innocence
Movie • 2002
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Two Gangsters and an Island
Movie • 2003
Self
The New Cinema
Movie • 1968
Self
Repulsion
Movie • 1965
Spoon Player
Toil And Trouble: Making 'Macbeth'
Movie • 2014
Self
Polanski Meets Macbeth
Movie • 1972
Self
Empire of the Censors
Movie • 1995
Self
The Stalking Moon
Movie
Fabrice Fournier
Knife in the Water: A Ticket to the West
Movie • 2003
Self
Polanski par Polanski
Movie • 2006
Self
Lotna
Movie • 1959
Musician (uncredited)
Polanski y los ojos del mal
Movie • 2002
Himself
En attendant Godot
Movie • 1989
Lucky
Dead Tired
Movie • 1994
Roman Polanski
The Revenge
Movie • 2002
Józef Papkin
Three Stories
Movie • 1953
Genek "Mały" (segment 2)
Bicycle
Movie • 2008
Boy who wants to buy a bicycle
Godzina bez słońca
Movie • 1955
Magical Bicycle
Movie • 1955
Adaś
Koniec nocy
Movie • 1957
'Mały'
What Will My Wife Say to This?
Movie • 1958
Dancer
Ostrożnie yeti
Movie • 1961
Driver
Samson
Movie • 1961
Partner of Malina's Blackmailer (uncredited)
Chassé-croisé
Movie • 1982
Ciné regards: Tess: Roman Polanski
Movie • 1979
Self
Remembering 'Rosemary's Baby'
Movie • 2012
Self
Light Keeps Me Company
Movie • 2000
Self
Sex, Lies and Jerzy Kosinski
Movie • 1995
Polanski, Horowitz. The Wizards From the Ghetto
Movie • 2021
Self
A British Horror Film
Movie • 2003
Self
The Nomad
Movie • 1967
Self
A Special Day
Movie • 2012
Self
Dracula: The True Story
Movie • 1997
Himself
The Evolution of Snuff
Movie • 1978
In The Tracks Of - Alexandre Desplat
Movie • 2020
Self
Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage
Movie • 1967
Himself
Tess: From Novel to Screen
Movie • 2004
Self
Filming 'Tess'
Movie • 2004
Self
Tess: The Experience
Movie • 2004
Self
The Ten Commandments of Creativity
Movie • 2000
Self
Trzy starty
Movie • 1955
Basia's Brother
Cracow by Polanski
Movie • 2010
Memories of a Young Pianist
Movie • 2009
Man in Tavern (archive footage)
Henri Langlois vu par...
Movie • 2014
Self
Twist by Polanski
Movie • 2006
The Best of Twist: Sets, Costumes & Photography
Movie • 2006
On the Trail of the New Wave
Movie • 2009
Self (archive footage)
Frantic
Movie • 1988
Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Once Upon a Time... 'Tess'
Movie • 2007
Self
Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là
Movie • 2010
Self (archive footage)
Polanski, le travail à l'oeuvre
Movie • 2019
Self
Komeda, Komeda...
Movie • 2012
Self
Lionpower from MGM
Movie • 1967
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Valerie
Movie • 2019
Roman by Polanski
Movie • 2015
Face of Evil: The Charles Manson Murders
Movie • 2015
Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time
Movie • 1992
Self (archive footage)
Mia Farrow: Shadows and Light
Movie • 2025
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
The River of Diamonds
Movie • 1964
Random Citizen
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
Movie • 2003
Self
Breakdown: 1975
Movie • 2025
Self - Director of Chinatown (archive footage)
Deneuve, la reine Catherine
Movie • 2022
Self (archive footage)
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Movie • 2025
Self
Heart of the Festival
Movie • 2002
Self (archive footage)
E! True Hollywood Story
TV • 1996
Un film et son époque
TV • 2003
Self
Wetten, dass..?
TV • 1981
Self
28 minutes
TV • 2012
Self
Leçon de Cinéma
TV • 2004
Self
Helter Skelter: An American Myth
TV • 2020
Self - Widower of Sharon Tate (archive footage)
Scene by Scene
TV • 1997
Self
Na sowas!
TV • 1982
Self
Spécial cinéma
TV • 1974
Self
Le Grand Échiquier
TV • 1972
Self
Bavarian Film Awards
TV • 1979
Self
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
TV • 1975
Self
The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968
Self - Guest
Apostrophes
TV • 1975
Self
7 sur 7
TV • 1981
Self
Apropos Film
TV • 1967
Self
Wortwechsel
TV • 1982
Self
The Playboy Murders
TV • 2023
Self (archive footage)
Na siehste!
TV • 1987
Self
Wedden, dat..?
TV • 1986
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Cérémonie des César
TV • 1976
Self - Presenter