Potente (pronounce Poe-ten-tah) means "powerful" in Italian and Spanish.

Is 1/16th Italian by descent: her great-great-grandfather was an Italian roof-tiler who stayed in Germany.

Her mother, Hildegard, is a medical assistant. Her father, Dieter, is a school teacher.

Has a brother, Stefan, who's 3 years younger. Franka confessed always being jealous of the way he was cosseted (he used to be very sick as a child) and often behaved like a clown, arranging performances to attract attention. That's what inspired her to become an actress.

Has 5 tattoos. Theater masks on her right back shoulder; Thorns around her belly bottom and on her lower back; Chinese dragon on her right arm and Stars under her right arm (2007).

Has her wax figure at the german Madame Tussauds' museum in Berlin.

Is a heavy smoker.

Is right-handed.

Is afraid of flying.

Was a strict vegetarian for nine years until she was forced to eat red meat as part of her diet for The Bourne Identity.

Learned to play the violin as a child.

Was often elected as a class spokesperson and used to do caricature drawings of her classmates. Hated math and wasn't good at it.

At age 17, she lived for some months in Houston, TX as an exchange student. During that time she had an american boyfriend and even went to the prom.

Was discovered as an actress in bar in Munich. She noticed a woman was starring at her. Before leaving, she went to the restroom but was followed by the woman, who asked her "How would you describe yourself?". Franka told her to "get lost". It turns out the woman was a casting agent.

Franka also sings. She recorded 5 songs for the Run Lola Run soundtrack; two (Believe, Wish) were released as singles, accompagnied by music videos. They did very well in german and international charts. She later worked w/th german band Bananafishbones on the song Easy Day and appeared on the Der Krieger und die Kaiserin soundtrack (Fly With Me), co-composed by Tom Tykwer.

Dated director Tom Tykwer (1998-2002), who wrote the part of Lola in Run Lola Run for her.

Appeared in advertisements for Amnesty Internationl ('Du Kannst', 2002) and PETA ('Ink, Not Mink!', 2004).

Was a member of the jury at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival.

Her directorial debut, Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt, premiered at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival and won a Adolf Grimme Award ("'Outstanding Individual Achievement", 2008).

Was a judge in the "Adopt-A-German" Campaign launched by Puma in 2006.

Was the spokeswoman of the 2006 Awareness campaign for breast cancer.

Co-presented the award for "Best Kiss" w/th Matt Damon at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards.

Co-presented the "Rock Out" award w/th Serj Tankian at the 2007 European Music Awards.

In September 2002, Franka moved to Los Angeles, CA for a year. During that time she kept a correspondence w/th friend Max Urlacher. Their letters were later published in a book untitled Los Angeles - Berlin - ein Jahr.

An authorised biography, written by Klaus Rathje and Ralf Krämer, was published in 2001. Franka contributed by providing never-seen-before pictures. Sadly the book is only available in german.

Got her dog, Pelle, from a pound in Los Angeles (2002).

Would rather not make a film than take a bad role. Hate weak female characters and prefers to play strong heroines.

True, the short directed by Tom Tykwer for Paris, Je t'aime is dedicated to Franka.

Engaged to an american business man named Dio (36). Wedding is scheduled some time in 2009.

 

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