Danuta Stenka was ashamed of her background for a long time. Today, she is grateful

Danuta Stenka’s roots

Danuta Stenka was born on 10 October 1961 in Sierakowice, Pomorskie Voivodeship, but grew up in the Kashubian town of Gowidlin. The summer village, now with a population of around 1,700, was where the star set out from to make a name for herself on the stages of the Contemporary Theatre in Szczecin, the New Theatre in Poznań and the Warsaw stages of the Dramatyczny, Rozmaitości and Narodowy. Despite her successes, her rural roots were a source of shame for a long time.

I make no secret that for many years, when I left home and found myself in an urban environment, this village of mine was

a crutch.

I was ashamed of these roots of mine. I was ashamed because you could say that I was such an underdog. That I hadn’t ridden the tram before, I didn’t know where to punch my ticket. I felt I was a Tumbleweed, a Matołek Goat in these urban circumstances,” Stenka told the series Film Baggage.

Personal asylum

Today, Stenka sees Kashubia as her place of safety and peace.

I grew up in the most beautiful place in the world. My wonderful, loving home was there,” the actress is quoted as saying by Good Week magazine.

She recalls the carefree moments of her childhood spent in the north of Poland and emphasises that it was there that she was shaped as a person.

The foundations of the person I am today were poured there,” she adds.

Family relations

Family was extremely important to Danuta Stenka. Her parents met in a travelling cinema in Gowidlin – her mother was a teacher and her father a soldier. After they married, they moved into the service flat where Eugeniusz and Danuta were born. Unfortunately, the actress’s father, while working as an electrician, suffered a serious accident that forced him to retire. Despite the passage of time, Stenka still emotionally remembers her father, who died more than two decades ago.
‘

Years later I understood what he carried within him, what he got from life, from fate, from the world, and then everything that used to annoy me about him became simple, ordinary, understandable,’ she said in an interview with The Good Weekly.

Danuta Stenka is a mother herself

Stenka’s mother was a role model for her, although she demanded a lot from her. Today, Danuta Stenka is a mother herself. In 1988 she married dubbing actor Janusz Grzelak, with whom she has two daughters, Paulina and Wiktoria. The actress looks at her family with pride and is not afraid to acknowledge her roots, which she considers the foundations of her success.