Roman Polański (born 18 August 1933) is a Polish-French film director, producer, writer and actor. Born in Paris to Polish parents, Polański relocated with his family to Poland in 1937. After surviving the Holocaust, he continued his education in Poland and became a critically acclaimed director of both art house and commercial films. Polański's first feature-length film, Knife in the Water (1962), made in Poland, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has since received five more Oscar nominations, and in 2002 received the Academy Award for Best Director for his film, The Pianist. He has also been the recipient of two Baftas, four Césars, a Golden Globe and the Palme d'Or. He left Poland in 1961 to live in France for several years, then moved to the United Kingdom where he collaborated with Gérard Brach on three films, beginning with Repulsion (1965). In 1968 he moved to the United States, immediately cementing his burgeoning directing status with the 1968 groundbreaking Academy Award winning horror film Rosemary's Baby. In 1969, Polański's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered while staying at the Polańskis' Benedict Canyon home above Los Angeles by members of the Manson Family. Following Tate's death, Polański returned to Europe and spent much of his time in Paris and Gstaad, but did not make another film until he filmed Macbeth (1971) in England. The following year he went to Italy to make What? (1973) and subsequently spent the next five years living near Rome. However, he traveled to Hollywood to direct Chinatown (1974) for Paramount Pictures, with Robert Evans serving as producer. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and was a critical and box-office success; the script by Robert Towne won for Best Original Screenplay. Polański's next film, The Tenant (1976), was shot in France, and completed the "Apartment Trilogy", following Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. In 1977, after a photo shoot in Los Angeles, Polański was arrested for the sexual abuse of a 13 year old girl. He was charged with rape but pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. To avoid sentencing, Polański fled to his home in London, and then moved on to France the following day. He has had a U.S. arrest warrant outstanding since then, and an international arrest warrant since 2005. Polański continued to make films such as The Pianist (2002), a World War II-set adaptation of Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman's autobiography of the same name, which echoed some of Polański's earlier life experiences. Like Szpilman, Polański escaped the ghetto and the concentration camps while family members were killed. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Director, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, and seven French César Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. He then released the successful films Oliver Twist (2005), To Each His Own Cinema (2007), and The Ghost Writer (2010), completed while under house arrest. In September 2009, Polański was arrested by Swiss police, at the request of U.S. authorities, when he traveled to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. In October 2009, the U.S. requested his extradition; however, on July 12, 2010, the Swiss rejected that request and instead declared him a "free man" after releasing him from custody.

Filmography

• 2026La scripte — Lui-même
• 2023The Palace — Director, Writer
• 2019An Officer and a Spy — Concertgoer (uncredited), Director, Writer
• 2019Sharon Tate Home Movies — Director
• 2019Valerie
• 2017Based on a True Story — Director, Screenplay
• 2017Captain Jokes Parrot's Disaster of the Caribbean — Characters
• 2015Face of Evil: The Charles Manson Murders
• 2015Roman by Polanski
• 2014Henri Langlois vu par... — Self, Director
• 2013Venus in Fur — Director, Screenplay
• 2011Carnage — Neighbor, Director, Screenplay
• 2011Tower Heist — Thanks
• 2010Cracow by Polanski — Idea
• 2010The Ghost Writer — Screenplay, Director, Producer
• 2009Memories of a Young Pianist — Man in Tavern (archive footage)
• 2008Bicycle — Boy who wants to buy a bicycle, Writer, Director
• 2008Quiet Chaos — Steiner
• 2007Making of Chinatown
• 2007Rush Hour 3 — Det. Revi
• 2007To Each His Own Cinema — Director, Producer
• 2006The Best of Twist: Sets, Costumes & Photography
• 2006Twist by Polanski
• 2005Le court des grands — Director
• 2005Oliver Twist — Director, Producer
• 2004Hedda Gabler — Stage Director
• 2002Dance of the Vampires — Original Film Writer
• 2002The Pianist — Director, Producer
• 2002The Revenge — Józef Papkin
• 2001The Unbeatable Bruce Lee
• 1999The Ninth Gate — Screenplay, Producer, Director
• E! True Hollywood Story
• 1995Sex, Lies and Jerzy Kosinski
• 1994A Pure Formality — Inspector
• 1994Dead Tired — Roman Polanski
• 1994Death and the Maiden — Director
• 1992Back in the USSR — Kurilov
• 1992Bitter Moon — Screenplay, Producer, Director
• 1992Dracula in the Movies — (archive footage)
• 1991The King of Ads — Director
• 1989En attendant Godot — Lucky
• 1988Frantic — Taxi Driver (uncredited), Director, Writer
• 1986Pirates — Director, Writer
• 1984Clive James Meets Roman Polanski
• 1982Chassé-croisé
• 1979Tess — Screenplay, Director
• 1978The Evolution of Snuff
• The South Bank Show
• 1976The Tenant — Trelkovsky, Director, Screenplay
• 1974Blood for Dracula — Gambler
• 1974Chinatown — Man with Knife, Director, Additional Writing, Writer
• 1972Con bravura — Caroler
• 1972Weekend of a Champion — Self, Producer
• 1972What? — Mosquito, Screenplay, Director
• 1971Macbeth — Director, Screenplay
• 1971The Boat on the Grass — Writer
• 1970A Day at the Beach — Writer, Producer
• 1969The Magic Christian — Solitary Drinker
• 1968Rosemary's Baby — Director, Screenplay
• 1968The Girl Across the Way — Writer
• 1967The Fearless Vampire Killers — Alfred, Director, Screenplay, Story
• 1966Cul-de-sac — Director, Writer
• 1966G.G. Passion — Co-Producer
• NET Playhouse — Director, Writer
• 1965Repulsion — Spoon Player, Director, Screenplay
• 1964A Taste for Women — Screenplay
• 1964The River of Diamonds — Random Citizen, Director, Writer
• 1964The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers — Director, Writer
• 1962Knife in the Water — Young Man (voice), Director, Screenplay
• 1962Mammals — Director, Writer
• 1961Ostrożnie yeti — Driver
• 1961Samson — Partner of Malina's Blackmailer (uncredited)
• 1961The Fat and the Lean — the lean, Director, Producer, Writer
• 1960Bad Luck — Tutor (uncredited), Assistant Director
• 1960Goodbye, Till Tomorrow — Romek
• 1960Innocent Sorcerers — Dudzio
• 1959Lotna — Musician (uncredited)
• 1959The Lamp — A passer-by (uncredited), Director, Screenplay
• 1959When Angels Fall — Old Woman, Screenplay, Director
• 1958Two Men and a Wardrobe — Bad Boy, Director, Writer
• 1958What Will My Wife Say to This? — Dancer
• 1957A Toothful Smile — Director, Screenplay
• 1957Break Up the Dance — Director, Writer
• 1957Kanal — Resistance Member pushed into a Sewer (uncredited)
• 1957Koniec nocy — 'Mały', Assistant Director
• 1957Murder — Director, Writer
• 1957Wraki — Romek
• 1956Nikodem Dyzma — Porter (uncredited)
• 1955A Generation — Mundek
• 1955Godzina bez słońca
• 1955Magical Bicycle — Adaś
• 1955Trzy starty — Basia's Brother
• 1953Three Stories — Genek "Mały" (segment 2)
• The Stalking Moon — Fabrice Fournier

Appearances as themselves (87)

• Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes — Self - Victim (archive footage)
• 2025Being Bo Widerberg — Self (archive footage)
• 2025Breakdown: 1975 — Self - Director of Chinatown (archive footage)
• 2025Chaos: The Manson Murders — Self
• 2025Mia Farrow: Shadows and Light — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• 2023The Family — Self
• The Playboy Murders — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Deneuve, la reine Catherine — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Françoise Dorléac, from The Man from Rio to The Young Girls of Rochefort — self
• 2021Polanski, Horowitz. The Wizards From the Ghetto — Self
• Helter Skelter: An American Myth — Self - Widower of Sharon Tate (archive footage)
• 2020In The Tracks Of - Alexandre Desplat — Self
• 2019Manson: Music from an Unsound Mind — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Polanski, le travail à l'oeuvre — Self
• 2018Françoise Dorléac, une promesse — Self
• 2017Mansfield 66/67 — Self - Filmmaker(archive footage)
• 2015Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans — Self (archive footage)
• 2014Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau — Self (archive footage)
• 2014Toil And Trouble: Making 'Macbeth' — Self
• 2013Seduced and Abandoned — Self
• 2013Vangelis and the Journey To Ithaka — Self
• 2013Weekend of a Champion — Himself
• 28 minutes — Self
• 2012A Special Day — Self
• 2012Close Up — Self (archive footage)
• 2012Komeda, Komeda... — Self
• 2012Remembering 'Rosemary's Baby' — Self
• 2012Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir — Self
• 2012Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out — Self (archive footage)
• 2010Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là — Self (archive footage)
• 2010Komeda: A Soundtrack for a Life — Self
• 2009On the Trail of the New Wave — Self (archive footage)
• 2008Il falso bugiardo — Self (archive footage)
• 2008Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired — Self (archive footage)
• 2007Once Upon a Time... 'Tess' — Self
• 2007Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story — Self (archive)
• 2006Polanski par Polanski — Self
• 2004Filming 'Tess' — Self
• Leçon de Cinéma — Self
• 2004Tess: From Novel to Screen — Self
• 2004Tess: The Experience — Self
• 2003A British Horror Film — Self
• 2003Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood — Self, Self (archive footage)
• 2003Knife in the Water: A Ticket to the West — Self
• 2003Two Gangsters and an Island — Self
• Un film et son époque — Self
• 2002Biography: Sharon Tate – Murdered Innocence — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2002Heart of the Festival — Self (archive footage)
• 2002Polanski y los ojos del mal — Himself
• 2000Last Pictures — Self
• 2000Light Keeps Me Company — Self
• 2000Rosemary's Baby: A Retrospective — Self
• 2000The Ten Commandments of Creativity — Self
• 2000Tribute to Alfred Lepetit — Self
• 1999The Last Days of Sharon Tate — Self (archive footage)
• 1998Playboy: The Story of X — Self (archive footage)
• 1997Dracula: The True Story — Himself
• Scene by Scene — Self
• 1996Elle s'appelait Françoise — Self
• 1995Empire of the Censors — Self
• 1992Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time — Self (archive footage)
• Na siehste! — Self
• Wedden, dat..? — Self
• Na sowas! — Self
• Wortwechsel — Self
• 7 sur 7 — Self
• Wetten, dass..? — Self
• Bavarian Film Awards — Self
• 1979Ciné regards: Tess: Roman Polanski — Self
• Ciné regards — Self
• Cérémonie des César — Self - Presenter
• Apostrophes — Self
• Les Rendez-vous du dimanche — Self
• Spécial cinéma — Self
• Le Grand Échiquier — Self
• 1972Polanski Meets Macbeth — Self
• 1970Ciao, Federico! — Self (uncredited)
• 1970Elvis: That's the Way It Is — Self (uncredited)
• 1968Mia and Roman — Himself
• The Dick Cavett Show — Self - Guest
• 1968The New Cinema — Self
• Apropos Film — Self
• 1967Lionpower from MGM — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1967The Nomad — Self
• 1967Tonite Let's All Make Love in London — Self
• 1967Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage — Himself
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self