Joanna Kulig

Kulig was born on 24 June 1982 in Krynica, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland. Her mother worked as a cook at a local kindergarten and her father was a folk poet. She was raised with four siblings in Muszynka. Her younger sister, Justyna Schneider, is also an actress and adopted their great-grandmother's surname to avoid confusion as their first names are similar.

In 2000, she enrolled at the Mieczysław Karłowicz State Music School Complex in Kraków. She graduated from the Frédéric Chopin State Music School in Krynica-Zdrój (piano class), as well as the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków in 2007 with a specialization in popular music vocals. She was first in her family to graduate from a university.

Kulig made her stage debut in 2006 at Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theater in Kraków. She made her film debut in 2008 in Grzegorz Pacek's film Wednesday, Thursday Morning. In 2011, she starred alongside Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas in The Woman in the Fifth directed by Paweł Pawlikowski. For her role in Małgorzata Szumowska's 2012 film Elles, she received the Polish Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress conferred by the Polish Film Academy. In 2013, she appeared in Jacek Borcuch's drama Lasting and Pawlikowski's Academy Award-winning drama Ida. The former earned her second Polish Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Kulig also played Sister Irena in Anne Fontaine's 2016 critically acclaimed drama The Innocents.

In 2009, Kulig married film director and screenwriter Maciej Bochniak. She gave birth to their son in February 2019.

In 2018, she received the Best Actress Award at the 31st European Film Awards for her role in Pawlikowski's historical drama film Cold War. The role also earned her the Polish Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2018, Kulig also took on the role of local priest's girlfriend with whom she gets pregnant in Wojciech Smarzowski's controversial film Clergy. In 2019, Polish magazine Wprost ranked her fourth on its list of the 50 most influential Polish women.