Nastassja Kinski's Real Name: Nastassja Nakszynski

Quick answer: The actress is known professionally as Nastassja Kinski. Encyclopedia.com and the German film database Filmportal independently record the birth name Nastassja Nakszynski and date her birth to January 24, 1961, in Berlin (Encyclopedia.com; Filmportal).

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented birth name Nastassja Nakszynski. Encyclopedia.com says she was born Nastassja Nakszynski in Berlin on 24 January 1961, the daughter of the actor Klaus Kinski, attended schools in Rome, Munich, Caracas, and New York, and later studied acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. It also notes that her first name was at one time spelled Nastassia. Filmportal independently lists Nastassja Nakszynski as the birth name, dates the birth to 24.01.1961 in Berlin, and says the daughter of Klaus Kinski grew up in Berlin, Rome, and Munich, later living in Caracas and returning to Munich, where she finished secondary school. Filmportal also records Anastasiya Kinski as another name. TV Guide lists the professional-style form Nastassja Aglaia Kinski, a middle name not used in the two sources that record the birth surname.

Career highlights

Encyclopedia.com dates her film debut to 1974 in Falsche Bewegung (The Wrong Move) and says she reached international fame with Tess in 1980. Filmportal independently says Lisa Kreuzer discovered her for the voiceless role of Mignon in Wim Wenders's Falsche Bewegung, that she became widely known through Wolfgang Petersen's television film Reifezeugnis, an episode of Tatort, and that she later played the leading role in Roman Polanski's Tess, a performance it says won her several awards in 1980, including a César. Encyclopedia.com independently lists Tess, as well as To the Devil a Daughter (1976) as an early English-language film.

Filmportal names later credits including Paul Schrader's Cat People, Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart, Peter Schamoni's Frühlingssinfonie (Spring Symphony), for which it says she won the German film award in 1983, and Wim Wenders's Paris, Texas, which it calls her most successful role to that point, as Jane. Encyclopedia.com independently lists Cat People, One from the Heart, Spring Symphony, and Paris, Texas among her 1980s credits, and records a Deutscher Filmpreis for Spring Symphony in 1983.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Nastassja Kinski or Nastassja Nakszynski are looking for the same German actress. Independent sources support the birth name used in the title. Encyclopedia.com also records the spelling Nastassia, and Filmportal lists Anastasiya Kinski as another form.