Veronika

Veronika "Vivi" Vozniak (aka Weronika Wozniak) is a Film, TV, and Theatre Polish-American actress.

 

She was born in Poznań, Poland. At the age of 5 she joined a dance group called Rytmix in Konin, Poland. While being a member of the dance group until 2006, she received such awards as 1st Place in The 27th International Song and Dance Festival. In 2006 her family moved to Wroclaw, Poland as she continued her dance journey. In 2009, she won 8th Place in The World Championships of Hip-Hop, Electic Boogie and Break Dance in Kalisz.

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As a teenager, she made her first camera appearance in TV Show Pierwsza Miłość as a guest star in 2014. Two years later, Veronika moved to New York City to study a Conservatory Program at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. The first short film she appeared in, "Lost In The Wind", directed by NYU then-sophomore student Dan L. Nguyen Phan, was accepted to Cannes Festival Short Film Corner selection in 2016. Among teachers like Irma Sandrey, Geoffrey Horne, Robert Ellermann, Barry Shapiro, Mauricio Bustamante, Jeremy Kruse, Weronika also had the honor of participating in an acting intensive taught by Vincent D'Onofrio in her final year.

 

After graduation, Veronika made first career steps in The U.S. by joining the original Off-Broadway cast of an interactive stage-combat play "The Video Games" produced by MB Stage Productions at The Elektra Theatre (now Times Square Arts Center), where she appeared as a swing, and later on as Shiek from The Legend Of Zelda in 2017. 

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During The Video Games production in NYC she started training Karate Ken Wa Kan Dojo under the mentorship of Shihan Michelle Gay – 5th-degree black belt and 5-time Women’s full contact champion and Certified Laban Movement Analyst. She received awards in many Kyokushin tournaments, and received her blackbelt in June 2023.

 

From the end of 2017 and throughout 2018 Veronika focused on movement theatre, inspired by her dance background. She worked extensively on devised theatre play ‘The Vandals’ with The How Theatre Company, joining the ensemble in 4 iterations across Manhattan and Brooklyn. And later during the pandemic in residency at CultureLAB she workshopped and performed "5-hour piece". At the theatre company, she met Polina Ionina, who became her long-term collaborator. Most recently, she has been co-producing, set designing, and assisting play "My Favorite Person" which premiered in CultureLab at LIC in 2021, and performed at Istanbul Fringe Festival 2023.

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During the pandemic, she has been part of online theatrical productions. In her first theatrical season with The Seeing Place, an Off-Off-Broadway ensemble, she performed online in the productions of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"(2020), "Dog Act"(2021), and "Queen With Conspiracy"(2021). She also appeared in The Evening Crane Theatre’s play “Spyglass Seven” streamed for The International Edgar Allan Poe Festival.

 

Quarantine also gave her an opportunity to start something new - in the years 2020-2022, she hosted her own radio program in Polish Nasze Radio USA, where she interviewed artists of Polish origin and updated the Polish community on what's happening in NYC's culture and entertainment.​

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Veronika was also part of a workshop for "Ideologix" a bilingual play written by Eri Nox, a collaboration between Playmachine and Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Poland. The play's first iteration happened online in mid-2021 and then traveled to Cracow. 

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In 2023 she made her Lincoln Center Debut by joining the cast of "HIMera" at Criminal Queerness Festival, written by Wojtek Rodak. 

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She has been working with many Polish institutions over the years, including Polish Theatre Institute at Kosciuszko Foundation, Polish Cultural Institute in NY, Polish Consulate in New York, Polish and Slavic Center, as well as New York Polish Film Festival. You can also see her hosting XXV International Chopin & Friends at The Consulate General of Poland in New York every November.

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Most recently, her film "New Lives" dir. by Joey Schweitzer was screened at EnergaCAMERIAMGE, won Best Short Film Award at boston Jewish Film Festival, and was also screened at Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival, Greenpoint Film Festival, HollyShorts Monthly Screening Series, New York Shorts International Film Festival, Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival, Big Apple Film Festival and New York University First Run Film Festival where she received Best Actress Award. You can now watch New Lives on FilmShortage, where the film was distinguished in Best Short Of The Month selection in December 2024.