Lubaszenko, Olaf

(Olaf Linde-Lubaszenko, 1968-).

   Popular actor and director. Lubaszenko started his career as a child actor in a television series called The Life of Kamil Kurant (Życie Kamila Kuranta, 1982). Later he appeared in several mainstream films in 1987 and 1988, including his breakthrough role in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue 5 (1988) and its theatrical version, A Short Film about Love (1988). Readers of the popular Polish weekly Film voted him and his screen partner, Grażyna Szapołowska, the best Polish actors in 1988. Lubaszenko, who also worked as Kieslowski's assistant on Decalogue 1, 2, 3, and 10, furthered his popularity at the beginning of the 1990s, appearing in films directed by Władysław Pasikowski, such as Kroll (1991) and The Pigs (1992). In the late 1990s, apart from appearing in numerous films, such as the successful Polish-Czech production To Kill Sekal (Zabić Sekala, 1998, Vladimir Michalek), he also began another career as a film director with The Sting (Sztos, 1997). The Sting was followed by several popular films, mostly crime comedies, such as Boys Don't Cry (Chłopaki nie płacz , 2000) and The Morning of Coyote (Poranek kojota, 2001). They tell entertaining but unrefined stories and feature well-liked Polish actors including Cezary Pazura, Maciej Stuhr (Jerzy Stuhr's son), and Edward Linde-Lubaszenko (Olafs father).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof