Franka Potente

Potente in 2012, photo by Prphotos.com

Place of Birth: Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany (now Germany)

Date of Birth: 22 July, 1974

Ethnicity: German, possibly one eighth or 1/16th Sicilian [Italian]

Franka Potente is a German film actress and singer. She has starred in the films Run Lola Run, The Bourne Identity, and The Bourne Supremacy, among many others.

Franka is the daughter of Dieter and Hildegard Potente. Her surname, Potente, means “powerful” in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Her surname is said to come from a Sicilian [Italian] ancestor of hers, a slater great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather who emigrated to Germany during the 19th century.

However, there are people of ethnic German descent with the surname Potente as well.

Franka is married to American actor Derek Richardson, with whom she has two children.