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Liliana Komorowska (maiden name Glabczynska), received her master’s degree with
honors from the Zelwerowicz State Theater Academy in Warsaw in 1979. In 1980,
she made her debut performance in a ,Masterpiece Theater production of The Crucible
as Abigail, winning the Best Actor Award from the Polish Television Academy.
From then on, her acting career spanned from television to stage and feature film. Throughout the
years at the renowned Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw, she performed with the masters of the
Polish stage. Some of the most prominent of her roles were those in Gombrowicz's Operetta,
Racine's Britannicus, Diderot's Jacques the Fatalist, and
Shakespeare's As You Like It. She was part of the finest period of the Polish Masterpiece
Theater, with a number of memorable roles: Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac, Linda
Manion in Anatomy of a Murder, and her role of a prostitute in Arthur Miller's
Death of a Salesman, by the side of the icon of the Polish theater, Tadeusz Lomnicki.
Liliana's accomplished stage career was complemented by a number of film roles. She worked with
such excellent directors as ,Krzysztof Zanussi (in Contract and A Man
from a Far Country)as well as Jerzy Kawalerowicz (in Death of a President
and in Austeria as Jewdocha). In Austeria, Liliana played Jewdocha, one of her
most acclaimed film roles.
At the time of the martial law in Poland, in 1982, she was offered a part in an American production
of War and Love, starring Kira Sedgwick, directed by Moshe Mizrahin
(Oscar winner for Madam Rosa). The movie became a turning point of her career. After the filming she decided to stay in the USA and
explore the world's largest and most influential film and television market. Her American career
developed steadily and, as before, in this new environment she remained involved in a wide variety
of artistic enterprises, continuing her work in film, theatre, and TV. From 1984 she played leading
roles in American TV daytime series including: Another World NBC (asDaphne Grimaldi,
1985), As the World Turns CBS (as Angela Visconti, 1986), One Life to Live
ABC (as Anabella Corto, 1987). She starred in an off-Broadway drama Shots at Fate.
This period also brought leading film roles in TV productions such as: Simon & Simon,
Equalizer, Kojak, and a guest-starring role in a CBS pilot The Saint.
Liliana's feature film credits of this period include an Indi production Astonished
with her lead role as Sonia - a female counterpart of Raskolnikov from a contemporary version
of Crime and Punishment, opposite Charles Dutton (Alien III), and Her Alibi,
with the part of Pauline Porizkova's sister in a duet with Tom Selleck,
a comedy directed by Bruce Beresford (Oscar winner for Driving Miss Daisy.
In the years 1989 - 91, while in Europe, Liliana signed a contract with the BBC for a role in
an acclaimed TV serial Mother Love, starring the great Lady Diana Rigg (BAFTA
award for the best British TV series). In the meantime she played in a Polish-French co-production
Napoleon, American series Veronica Clare and Acapulco H.E.A.T., a CBS miniseries
Lucky/Chances, based on a screenplay by Jackie Collins.
Another chapter in her career started with a role in a sci fi horror Scanners III - a film which
had a major influence on her life. This is where she met her future husband, one of the most
acclaimed Canadian directors, Christian Duguay. Liliana and Christian
embarked on a very creative and successful partnership of an actress and a director. Roles that
followed include such films as Screamers with Peter Wellers (Robocop),
Red-light with Thomas Arana, produced by the famous brothers Tony
and Ridley Scott (GALAXY award for the best Canadian TV film).Her next role in The
Assignment put her on screen next to movie stars Aidan Quinn, Donald
Sutherland and Ben Kingsley. The line-up of her other roles feature such films
as a mini series for CBS Joan D'Arc (13 nominations for EMMY) and Hitler (2 EMMY awards
in 2003), as well as a feature Suspicious Minds, starring Patrick Bergen and
Gary Busy, and a leading female role in a recent CTV production The Royal Scandal,
and the latest thriller by Christian Duguay The Art of War, starring Wesley
Snipes and a high impact action feature ExtremOps.
Liliana Komorowska lives in Montreal, Canada, where she is actively involved in both English and
French film and TV. She is also engaged in promoting Polish culture and tradition among Canadians.
The best example of which would be ,The Polish Festival in Montreal, organized
annually by La Corporation Québec Pologne pour les Arts, where Liliana has been a
vice-president and a spoke person for the last 5 years. Also The Foundation Liliana
Komorowska for the Arts, established by her in 2004, works actively to create
the best possible image of Poland and its heritage in Canada.
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