Urszula Antoniak Biography: Age, Husband, Net Worth, Movies, Awards, Ethnicity

Urszula Antoniak is a distinguished Polish–Dutch film director and screenwriter.

She is celebrated for her thoughtful and visually compelling arthouse cinema, particularly her debut feature Nothing Personal, which won multiple prestigious awards.

With a distinctive thematic focus on identity, multiculturalism, and alienation, Antoniak has become notable across European festivals for her intellectual and aesthetic rigor.

Profile

• Full Name: Urszula Antoniak
• Stage Name: Urszula Antoniak
• Born: 1968
• Age: 57 years old
• Birthplace: Częstochowa, Poland
• Nationality: Polish-Dutch
• Occupation: Film Director, Screenwriter
• Height: Unknown
• Parents: Unknown
• Siblings: Unknown
• Spouse: Jacek Lenartowicz (m. ?–2004)
• Children: Unknown
• Relationship: Unknown
• Net Worth: Unknown

Early Life and Education

Urszula Antoniak was born in Częstochowa, Poland, in 1968.

She earned her foundational education at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School (Radio and Television Faculty) at the University of Silesia in Katowice.

In her early twenties, around 1988, she relocated to the Netherlands to study film directing at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam—despite not speaking Dutch at the time, demonstrating her determination to pursue filmmaking on an international level.

She is of mixed ethnicity Polish-Dutch, and though her religion is not publicly known.

Career

Urszula Antoniak began her filmmaking career in television and short-form projects in the Netherlands shortly after completing her academic training.

Her early works include the TV film Bijlmer Odyssey (2004), a widely sold Dutch production, and the romantic comedy Dutch for Beginners, which received both critical and public attention.

These projects reflected her emerging focus on identity, integration, and the relationship between an immigrant and a new society. Antoniak then directed the short film Nina Satana (2011) for the One Night Stand anthology series, exploring cultural and generational divides among youth—a precursor to her thematic concerns in feature-length cinema.

Antoniak’s feature debut Nothing Personal premiered in 2009 and received sweeping acclaim: it won six awards at the Locarno Film Festival—including the Silver Leopard for Best Debut and the FIPRESCI Prize—and four Golden Calves at the Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht, including Best Film and Best Director.

The narrative explores themes of isolation, identity, and connection as a young Dutch woman hitchhikes through Ireland and meets a solitary widower. The film was distributed in over 15 countries, significantly elevating her international profile and marking her arrival as a major European arthouse filmmaker.

Following her debut, Antoniak directed Code Blue (2011), a haunting, austere drama about a nurse who cares for terminally ill patients and collects their personal belongings.

Premiering in Cannes’s Directors’ Fortnight, the film earned awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound at the Dutch Film Festival and was widely praised for its visual precision and emotional restraint.

In 2014, she released Nude Area, a largely wordless, visually driven exploration of seduction and emotional tension between two young women, informed by literary references from Kierkegaard and Barthes.

Antoniak’s later features include Beyond Words (2017), in which a Polish immigrant in Berlin confronts assimilation and familial estrangement—a film featured at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Contemporary World Cinema section, as well as the San Sebastian Film Festival.

In 2020, she directed Magic Mountains, a psychological drama set in the Tatra mountains, which screened at international festivals and saw distribution in multiple territories. Most recently, Splendid Isolation (2022) reflected pandemic-era themes and was selected for the IFFR Big Screen Competition.

Social Media

• Instagram Handle: @uantoniak

Personal Life

Urszula Antoniak remains highly private about her personal life and does not typically discuss romantic partnerships or family matters in public forums.

However, she was previously married to Polish musician and screenwriter Jacek “Luter” Lenartowicz until his death in July 2004. Lenartowicz was a co-founder of legendary Polish punk bands Deadlock and Tilt, and later pursued screenwriting while living in the Netherlands alongside Antoniak.

Since the mid-2000s, Antoniak has not publicly disclosed any subsequent marriages or romantic relationships. There is no information about her having any children.

Filmography

• Nothing Personal (2009) – Director & Screenwriter
• Code Blue (2011) – Director & Screenwriter
• Nude Area (2014) – Director & Screenwriter
• Beyond Words (2017) – Director & Screenwriter
• Magic Mountains (2020, TV) – Director & Writer
• Splendid Isolation (2022) – Director & Screenwriter

Net Worth

Urszula Antoniak’s net worth is not publicly known.

Her income is derived from directing, screenwriting, television projects, and film festival and distribution revenues. As an auteur operating primarily within arthouse and independent European cinema, her financial model is guided by artistic grants, public funding, and selective producer collaborations rather than mainstream commercial blockbusters.