Franka Potente hasn't had as much post-"Bourne Identity" (2002) success as star Matt Damon. Indeed, most of her success came before.
Damon was something of a Hollywood it-boy ahead of being cast as the titular super-agent with amnesia, riding the crest of a wave of hits that included "Saving Private Ryan (1998) and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999), but many forget that Potente was in much the same position.
A year before appearing in "The Bourne Identity" as the rootless Swiss woman who is swept up in Bourne's frantic race to discover his identity, Potente appeared in the edgy 2001 drama "Blow" opposite another handsome Hollywood hero, Johnny Depp.
However, what first brought Potente to people's attention was her starring role in the 1998 low-budget indie smash "Run Lola Run."
She appeared as Lola, a girl who is in a race of her own, to deliver 100,000 Deutschmarks to some criminals to pay off her boyfriend's debt. If nothing else, it showed the "Bourne" producers that Potente could keep up with the pace of the film.
Since the "Bourne Identity" (and a brief reprisal of her role in its 2004 sequel "The Bourne Supremacy") Potente has appeared mostly in less-celebrated indie fare, and films in her native Germany.
Her most notable role on this side of the Atlantic was in the BBC America series "Copper," which was just canceled after two seasons. She also had a brief arc in the second season of "American Horror Story."
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