Life & Work with Marek Probosz of Los Angeles / OC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marek Probosz.

Hi Marek, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My first step onto the theatrical stage came when I was six years old. I played the role of Jester in The Princess and the Pea, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. I could not yet read, so my mother taught me my lines. After the premiere, the local newspapers wrote that I was “the most delightful actor at the royal court!”
For the next seven years, I devoted myself to acting at the Fairy Tale Theatre in Żory, in Silesia, Poland – the place where I was born on March 24, exactly on the day my city was liberated from WWII German occupation.
I had been obsessed with the magic of theater, its emotions, poetry, symbolism, and literature that reached my heart and mind, awakening and shaping my sensitivity, my personality, and ultimately my future. Art became my daily bread, my constant inspiration, I started my fascinating journey toward discovering the meaning of life through art.
The ability to evoke profound emotions in an audience, to move people to tears and to make them burst into thunderous laughter, gave me an extraordinary sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. It inspired me to work ever harder, to inhabit one character after another, to convey new values and ideals, and to continue transforming myself into new heroes.
Then came my other love – the sport. Since my birth I was bursting with energy and my nick name was “a wriggling tail!”
I became a five-time Silesian Champion in road cycling! That 4 year period was a time of physical conditioning, of forging my spirit, shape my character, and discipline through one of the most demanding individual sports. All four seasons, through snow, rain, hail, wind and lightning, I would put on my cycling gear and go training every day after school, believing that during the race, at the finish line, I would be able to throw my arms into the sky in the euphoria of victory!
At a certain point, however, I realized that my rites of passage stage was over, now was the time to be reborn to the future, time to transform everything I had learned from sport back into the discipline of daily training in acting, to reject everything that distracted me from my calling.
I was born an actor. I never had to ask myself “What would I like to become?”
From the moment I put that Jester’s cap with little bells on my head as a child, I knew I had discovered my destiny.
Today, looking back, I can see just how much my art owes to sport: the ability to overcome my weaknesses, to accomplish what seems impossible, to rise after every fall and move on to the next stage with never ending passion, creativity and believe in my dream, that in art lives the immortal part of the human being.
Then came awards in poetry recitation competitions across the country, an engagement at the Papet Theatre in Będzin, an avant garde student theater in Kraków, my first film and television roles, and entrance examinations for Acting Schools in Kraków and Wrocław. Finally, in 1980, I began my studies at the prestigious National Film School in Łódź.
A year later in December 1981 the martial law was declared in Poland. Strikes, curfews, arrests of opponents of the Communist regime, killings, universities closed. We were cut off from the world, no phones, no food in stores, no toilet paper, even though, in this grim and absurd time Coppola’s “Apocalipse Now” was playing at the Warsaw cinema Relax.
While still at film school, I played lead roles in avant-garde plays of Jean Genet on professional stages in Warsaw.
After graduating with honors in 3 years from the 4 year program and getting my MFA in Acting, I was starring in movies that defined my generation, followed by a contract with the best theater in Poland – Teatr Polski in Warsaw – under the direction of the legendary Kazimierz Dejmek.
The press started to write about me “The idol of his generation”, “Eastern European James Dean”.
Then came the lead role at the Dramatic Theater in Warsaw, in the anti-military musical “What Time Is it?” It was a hit! Soon afterwards The Young Generation Stage was established in the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, and I became its only actor!
There I preformed my first one-man show, “Romance for Trumpet”, accompanied by the legendary jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stańko.
I also began directing abroad. My production of Oscar Wilde’s “Salome” in which I was starring, won Best Play of the Year by the Czech Critics’ Poll 1986.
I taught acting at the Theater Academy in Warsaw (1986/87)
At the same time I was starring in the Polish “Cinema Paradiso”, the film “I Love Movies”, portraying the son of two Polish screen legends Zbigniew Cybulski and Elżbieta Czyżewska.
At that point I was overwhelmed with film, TV and theater offers. Suddenly I received an invitation to join the filming of the West German production “And the Violin Stopped Playing”. I was issued a official passport with working visa to travel to Bavaria Film Studio in Hamburg.
And there, fate prepared a surprise that would change my entire world. The American Cinemateque invited me to spend three weeks in Hollywood. The impossible had suddenly become reality. The land of dreams opened its gates before me.
I stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel, where the first Academy Awards had been given, on Hollywood Boulevard, on the Walk of Fame, directly across from the legendary Chinese Theater, with the hand and foot prints of the greatest stars of cinema embedded in its forecourt.

I began dreaming my Hollywood dream.

For three weeks, I visited film studios, met filmmakers from around the world, and immersed myself in the world of American Dream Factory. It was then that I made a decision whose consequences I still live with to this day.
I chose freedom.
I decided not to return to communist Poland, a country in which I no longer wanted to live under the opression. “Because an artist must be free in order to create.” – Cyprian Norwid
That was my one-way ticket. A life-changing decision. A leap into the abyss, the ocean-where I would fight with the sharks.
I had to survive. I had to endure the stress, the loneliness, the nostalgia, the pain of being torn away from my roots and family, my language, my career, everything I had known.
After three weeks of dreaming, I had to wake up and begin everything from scratch.
A hero from zero.
This was a world without laptops or cell phones. To make an over seas phone call, you had to place an order with an international operator and wait several days for the connection. Conversations were monitored, and letters were opened by the censors.

It was a ruthless beginning. I started the journey of the hero-path. Courageous and full of faith that my decision will make me free, that with hard work and some luck I will succeed with my art.
A year later, I landed my first role in the TV show “How to Survive in Hollywood?” and obtained my SAG card. By becoming a member of the American Actors Union, I was able to secure an agent. More film opportunities followed. Below, in brief, is my Hollywood odyssey from that moment to the present day.
MAREK PROBOSZ
Award winning Polish-American actor, director, screenwriter, author producer with over 60 film roles to his credit and numerous leading roles in plays and musicals. He emigrated to the USA at the height of his career in Europe, invited by The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles in 1987 as the “Idol of his genera/on”. Probosz possesses an MFA in acting from the National Film School in Łódź, and graduated with an MFA in film directing from the American Film Institute – AFI in Los Angeles. Since then, Probosz has worked in Hollywood with the elite of American filmmakers, Oscar winners and Oscar nominees. His movies have won awards at festivals including: Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastian, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Los Angeles, New York, Houston etc.
Probosz’s film and television career has spanned roles in productions around the world. He has guest-starred in a number of popular series, such as Scorpion (CBS), Scandal (ABC), Numbers (CBS), JAG (NBC), and MONK (USA). The New York Times, Hollywood Reporter and Variety applauded his portrayal of cinema legend Roman Polanski in the film Helter Skelter
(Warner Bros. 2004). His feature directorial debut – Y.M.I. received the ABBOT AUDIENCE AWARD at The Other Venice Film Festival (2004).
In 2006, Probosz played the leading role in the highly awarded film The Death of Captain Pilecki, directed by Ryszard Bugajski. He recorded Pilecki’s Report from Auschwitz as a 10- hour American audiobook for Audible.com. In 2018, the monodrama, The Auschwitz Volunteer: Captain Witold Pilecki, which Marek performed in and directed on Broadway, received the BEST DOCUMENTARY SHOW Award at the world’s largest one actor theater festival, UNITED SOLO New York. In 2022, Probosz’s solo production Norwid’s Return, which he directed, produced and starred in, was the winner of the BEST NEW YORK PREMIERE Award at UNITED SOLO Festival.
Most recently, he portrayed the world renowned Polish sculptor and painter Stanislaw Szukalski in the play Last Hour (2025). He also premiered his new solo piece, PERFORMANCE in III ACTS, as a Special Guest at the Opening Gala of the 26th Houston Polish Film Festival. Winner the SILVER KNIGHT Award at the International Theatre Festival (2025). He also
completed two feature films “Apolonia” and “Revenge” for Netflix (2025).
Probosz has won numerous international awards for his work: GOLD MEDAL – The American Institute of Polish Culture, Miami (2025); GOLD DIPLOMA – Golden Knight Festival, Sevastopol (2025); OUTSTANDING POLE AWARD USA – Culture category, Los Angeles (2023); International POST SCRIPTUM Plebiscite – ARTIST OF THE YEAR, Second Place, Warsaw (2023); Helena
Modrzejewska Award – MODJESKA PRIZE, Los Angeles (2022); Pola Negri Award – POLITKA, Lipno (2022); Polish Diaspora Oscar – GOLDEN OWL – FILM category, Vienna (2018); MORTUI SUNT UT LIBERTI VIVAMUS Medal, London (2011); WITOLD PILECKI GOLD MEDAL, Auschwitz (2011).
Since 2005, Probosz has taught film and theater acting as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of California – UCLA. He’s also taught at Williams College in Massachusetts, Emerson College in Los Angeles, National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw and Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica. He has been a jury at several international film and theater festivals and conducted master classes and workshops in NY, on Broadway, Chicago, Los Angeles, Williams College, Warsaw, Kazan, and Cracow to name a few. Probosz also specializes in preparing actors for Hollywood film and television roles, successfully coaching both established stars and rising talent. He is the author of two books, two theater plays and several original and adapted screenplays.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
To be torn from my roots, becoming a stranger in a strange land, meant longing for home, family, language, career, even food, just everything that I left behind and didn’t realize that it was such an essential part of me. Suddenly I was uprooted from my social, geographical, cultural environment that made me who I was. I had to die and be reborn in a new soil that would never be the same as home. I personally believe that it’s easier to start over when you have never reached the top before. My journey was like that of the Sisyphus-a painful and thorny one-because I had to fall from the summit all the way to the bottom, and from there with courage, confidence and determination once again push my boulder uphill. First three years are the hardest.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I inherited my talents from my ancestors. My grandfather, Jerzy Probosz, was a man of many talents, poet, dramatist, director, actor, awarded with the Laurel of Literature by the Polish Academy of Literature, Warsaw 1938. In 1939, when the Germans invaded Poland, he was arrested as a member of the Polish intelligentsia and deported to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. He was murdered in that hell on earth in 1942, leaving behind nine children. At the time of his arrest, my father Stanisław was 10 years old. I am a child of the first generation of parents who survived the horrors of World War II. I am also the first generation American emigrant in my family. The last words that my grandfather managed to write hastily on a scrap of paper during his arrest, were: “I wish you, from the bottom of my heart, the strength to endure, every day and every night. Endure! Endure!! Endure!!! Even if you must burn your earthly body to ashes, you must save your spirit.” These words became my life motto. Even though I never met my grandfather I have a very strong spiritual connection with him. His words help me survive many storms in my emigrant journey in America.
So I am a Renessance man:
Actor/Director/ Writer/Producer, Author and Scholar
.
Marek Probosz is an international stage, film, and television actor, who also writes and directs stage and film productions. He is the Winner of the Best New York Premiere for his show Norwid’s Return (2022) and of the Best Documentary Show Award for The Auschwitz Volunteer: Captain Witold Pilecki (2018), which he directed and starred in at the world’s largest
one actor show festival – UNITED SOLO – on Broadway in NYC. Other notable stage credits include the role of Odysseus opposite award- winning British actor Henry Goodman in Philoktetes at the Getty Villa in Malibu. He starred opposite Oscar nominee Don Cheadle in “Tower of Babel” directed by Academy Award winner Jan A. P. Kaczmarek at Mark Taper Forum Los Angeles. He wrote, directed and starred in the original Odyssey Theater production of AUM or Tormenting of Actors. Probosz’s theatrical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Salome, which he wrote, directed and starred in, was cited by the Czech National Critics Poll as “The best theater production 1986”. Most recently, he portrayed the world renowned Polish sculptor and painter Stanisław Szukalski in

the play “Last Hour” (2025) As a Special Guest at the Opening Gala of the 26th Houston Polish Film Festival Probosz successfuly premiered his new solo piece “Performance in III Acts”(2025)
Probosz earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in acting from the prestigious Polish National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź, Poland (1984), and a Master of Fine Arts degree in film directing from the renowned American Film Institute in Los Angeles (1993). He has over 60 starring roles to his credit. His film and television career spans roles in Polish, Czech, German, French, Italian and American productions and co-productions. In the United States, he recently worked on the Anna Nicole Smith biopic Huricanna, which starred Oscar Winner Holly Hunter. He has also had guest-starring roles on CBS’ Scorpion, ABC’s Scandal, CBS’ Numbers, NBC’s JAG and USA’s Monk. He received strong reviews from The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety for his portrayal of Roman Polanski in the CBS miniseries Helter Skelter. In 2014, he appeared in the Liam Neeson- narrated, 27 times awarded documentary Love Thy Nature.







Probosz starred as the Polish WWII hero Witold Pilecki in the film The Death of Captain Pilecki (2006), which garnered the Special Jury REMI Award at the 2007 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. The film has had screenings at consulates, universities and embassies throughout the world. In 2013, Probosz recorded the audiobook The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, by Captain Witold Pilecki, for Audible.com. The print book, on which Probosz’s United Solo Festival performance is based, received the prestigious PROSE Award for Biography and Autobiography from the Association of American Publishers and the Silver Award for Autobiography/Memoir from the Independent Book Publishers Association. It garnered excellent reviews from New Republic, Atlantic, Wall St. Journal, and The New York Times Sunday Book Review, where it was selected as Editor’s Choice, and

many other media outlets, and has been translated and published in foreign languages from China to Europe.
Currently, Probosz is touring with the one-actor show Norwid’s Return, which he is both starring in and directing, and which in the last year has garnered global recognition and awards in New York and nationwide. This follows his success directing and touring with the multimedia stage production The Auschwitz Volunteer about Auschwitz infiltrator Captain Witold Pilecki, which was featured at American Jewish University, Hillel UCLA, and in venues in Canada and numerous cities in the U.S.



In Poland Probosz recently completed two feature films Apolonia and Revenge for Netflix (2025). He played legendary hero Witold Pilecki in the docudrama film, The Burden (2023). He has guest-starred in the popular Polish TV series Father Matthew, and was a regular on the Polish TV series Under the Common Sky. In 2018, he worked on the Polish feature film Once Upon a Time in November (Best Film at Sicily’s Taormina Film Fest 2018), directed by Andrzej Jakimowski, and Valley of the Gods (2019), directed by Lech Majewski and starring John Malkovich and Josh Hartnett. He was a regular in the most successful Polish TV series M For Love, and the longest ever aired Polish TV series Clan. He also appeared in the Polish TV series The Commission of Murders and For Better, For Worse.

Probosz has directed 28 hours of interviews with the world renowned writer and shakespeareologist Jan Kott. He has written 11 feature film
screenplays, including his most recent thriller, Murderers. His short film Rebel, a psychological thriller on teen suicide, was a precursor to 2004’s YMI, an unflinching portrait of the dark forces lurking in the lives of teenagers, which Probosz wrote, directed, produced and starred in, making his U.S. feature debut. The film had its world premiere at The

Other Venice Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice ABBOT Award. In 2016, he directed Highlanders’ Wedding in Istebna, a play written by his grandfather Jerzy Probosz, for Polish Radio. Probosz is the author of two books published in Poland: The novel Eldorado (2009) and Call Me When They Kill You (2011), a collection of short stories. He has also written two theater plays AUM, Or Torturing Actors (1990) and Auschwitz No.432 (2018)
Since 2005, Probosz has taught in the UCLA Department of Theater, Film and Television. He has also taught at the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Emerson College in Los Angeles, Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica and Williams College, MA. He has given lectures on screenwriting at international film events and has been a distinguished jury member at film festivals throughout Europe, including the Golden Knight Festival Sevastopol and the International Theater and Film Festivals in Blagoveshchensk (Siberia), Muslim Cinema Kazan, (Tatarstan), IFF in Kyiv (Ukraine), Minsk (Belarus), Tomsk, (Russia), NNW Gdynia, (Poland), Moscow International Film Festival, and many more.
Probosz taught A Master Class – Acting For Camera at the world’s largest solo theater festival at Theater Row in NYC (2018). During Spring 2021, he was a visiting professor at Williams College, the number one ranked US college for Liberal Arts, where he also taught The New Summer Theater Program. As a special guest of the III Congress of the Polish Theater in Chicago, he taught workshops on acting for the camera. During the Closing Gala, he gave a lecture on Cyprian Norwid and delivered a stage performance of Kordian on Mont Blanc by Juliusz Słowacki. Probosz presented the award-winning movie The Death of Captain Pilecki (starring Probosz) at Texas A&M University, College Station (2021) and at University of North Texas, Dallas (2022). Probosz also specializes in preparing actors for Hollywood film and television roles, successfully coaching both established stars and rising talent.

Probosz’s work has been honored many times—most recently he became a laureate of The Gold Medal – The American Institute of Polish Culture, Miami, FL (2025); The Gold Diploma – The Golden Knight Festival, Sevastopol, (2025); the OUTSTANDING POLE Award – USA in the Culture Category (2023). He was ranked second in an International Plebiscite of the independent literary and artistic quarterly POST SCRIPTUM – ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2023. He was also the winner of the 2022 Helena Modrzejewska – MODJESKA PRIZE in Los Angeles and the 2022 Pola Negri – POLITKA award at the 15th POLA NEGRI Festival in Lipno, Poland – where he participated in the unveiling ceremony of his plaque on the Avenue of the Stars. Probosz has also received a Polish Diaspora Oscar – the GOLDEN OWL in the FILM category (Vienna, 2018), the MORTUI SUNT UT LIBERTI VIVAMUS medal (London, 2011), and the Gold Medal – Knight of Humanity in Auschwitz for his portrayal of Witold Pilecki and in recognition of his outstanding services in sharing Pilecki’s ideals and heroism worldwide (Auschwitz, 2011).



Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Telling the stories of the complex and heroic journeys of emigrants throughout history-through film, theater, and literature-has become my artistic and personal mission. I am currently preparing another one-man show project “Maestro Paderewski”. He was a great man, a Pole and an emigrant: a knight of an ancient order, epic, incomparable artist who became a statesman unique in history and the noblest pianist of his time. I plan to open this production on Broadway NY- I would love to play it one day at the Carnegie Hall since Paderewski was the first pianist to give a solo concert there in 1891. My next project will be about a Polish legendary emigrant and one of the greatest writers of all time, Joseph Conrad.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://marekproboszofficial.com
• Instagram: marekprobosz
• Facebook: marek probosz
• LinkedIn: Marek Probosz