Nastassja Kinski

German actress and noted family, the winner Golden Globe Award in 1981 for her starring role in "Tess of the D'Urbervilles." The photograph of her entitled "Woman with Snake" in 1982 by Richard Avedon became the No. 1 selling poster in America. Other films include: "Father's Day," 1997, "Terminal Velocity" 1996, "Faraway, So Close," 1993, "Hotel New Hampshire," 1984 and "One From The Heart," in 1982.

Kinski is the daughter of German actors Klaus and Ruth Kinski. Due to the nature of her parents' work, her childhood was spent "all over the place." With a home life "full of fights and tears, happiness and sweetness and breakdowns where we would destroy the house and then make up," Kinski's parents divorced when she was nine. At 13 she was introduced to director Wim Wenders, who cast her in her first film the following year. After meeting American director Roman Polanski at a dinner party in 1976, he sent her to study acting with Lee Strassberg and then cast her in his film version of the classic Thomas Hardy novel "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," where her performance of Tess won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress the following year.

A steady stream of roles in European and American films followed. Kinski was receiving reviews calling her "the new Garbo" but her ascent to international stardom was put on hold in 1984 when she became pregnant, After their baby was born, Kinski married Egyptian film producer Ibrahim Moussa in 1984. With son Aljosha and daughter Sonya, they settled in Rome, but divorced in 1992. Her former lovers included Roman Polanski and Gerard Depardieu. By 1992 she was a couple with Quincy Jones in Hollywood; their baby Kenya was born 9 February 1993; they separated in 1995. Single mom "Nasty" maintains her film career while balancing the responsibilities of child rearing. "I'm at peace with myself. I think I'm really learning to do that and try to achieve that [peace]. I look forward and upward," she says on a positive note.