Born on Mar 4, 1966 in Athens, Greece. Reportedly 5' 10", 38-23-36.

Can I tell good acting when I see it?

Bad acting is pretty easy to spot — God knows I’ve done it often enough on this site. But being critical of acting and actually knowing good acting from bad are two entirely different things, and recently I was forced to wonder if I wasn’t in fact being critical out of habit.

This moment of soul-searching came while watching The Sci Fi Channel’s miniseries Children of Dune, when I found myself provoked into my all-too-familiar geek’s role of snobby Simpsons Comic Book Guy as I provided running commentary on the show to my hapless roommate, who is not a fan of Dune but was too slow to run away: The show was not without it’s strengths, I told her, but the grand mysticism and intimate meta-dialog that were a huge part of the original books’ allure were either greatly diluted or deleted outright. Then there was the matter of all the apocryphal corner-cutting, some of it justifiable by the limited TV budget, but much of it a result of simply trying to squeeze two books into one six-hour show. And while the reliance on cheaper Euro actors (instead of more Semitic-looking ones that the story would seem to call for) is understandable, could not some effort have been made to keep the accents consistent within this group or that one, or at least within the same family? Even the passage of time was sometimes hard to gauge, as Paul was the only character who appeared to age, and other characters were played by the same people both as children and as adults, without anything different about them to mark that they’ve grown. But transcending all these largely cosmetic grievances was the acting — that pale, unconvincing acting so common to sci fi flicks yet so disappointing to see in the Dune series. Not surprisingly, perhaps, is that some of the most unconvincing performances came from the show’s de facto Hot Chick, apparent newcomer Daniela Amavia in the central role of Alia.

In sum, as the Comic Book Guy would declare even after being shown not to know what he’s talking about: “Worst episode ever!” And Daniela has much to do with this.

To be fair, Daniela did have some moments where she came off fine, but the unevenness of her performance had me pondering two questions throughout the miniseries:

1. Will I be able to see Daniela’s topless footage in the U.S. version of the DVD when it comes out, or will I have to wait for caps from some foreign version to get posted on the web somewhere like I did with Barbora Kodetová (“Chani”) from the first movie?
2. Is Daniela’s occasional flat acting more a result of inexperience, or of delivering lines in a language not her own?

At the time of this posting, I still have to wait for an answer to the first question, but the second I was able to look up on the web right away. As it turns out, “Daniela Amavia” indeed has no experience prior to Children of Dune — but “Daniela Lunkewitz”, the name she’d been known by before 2003, has a long, illustrious history: She speaks several languages, for starters, having been born in Greece, raised in Germany, and schooled in Britain. While studying to be an actress, she did pretty well for herself as a model, doing runway work for Chanel and Dior, spokesmodel work for Chloe, and cover work for Vogue, Elle, and Femme. But all this was years ago — since then she’s made a small name for herself in film as a writer, director, producer, and, more to the point here, actress, having won the Best Actress award at the New York International Independent Film Festival as well as the Deutscher Filmpreis, the German equivalent of the Academy Award.

So lack of experience and acting chops are not among Daniela’s problems. How then to explain her performance in Children of Dune? My eyes and ears were telling me it was often weak, but the best of Berlin and New York insist the problem is with my eyes and ears, not with Daniela.

What do I say to that?

Well, what else can I say?

Quite simply: “Worst episode ever!”

Also sprach Golem.

Film

• Aries Moon (2002) .... Ava
• Nocturnal (2002) .... Kelly Ream
• Venus and Mars (2001) .... Kay Vogel
• The Woman Every Man Wants (2001) .... Mary
• Facade (1999; aka “Death Valley”) .... Natasha
• Rockin' Good Times (1999) .... Adrienne
• Nur aus Liebe (1996; aka “Dangerous Dowry”) .... Carmen
• Affären (1994) .... Nora
• Abgeschminkt! (1993; aka “Making Up!”) .... Susa
• Rosenemil (1993)
• Der Papagei (1992; aka “The Parrot”) .... Alexa
• Lautlos (1991; aka “Noiseless”)
• Anna (1988)

• Haven't We Met Before? (2002) .... Sara Stein
• Tatort — Eulenburg (1997) .... Claire von Dohmen
• 4 Urlauber und 1 Baby (1996)
• Die Eisprinzessin (1995; aka “Ice Princess”)
• Hart to Hart: Two Harts in Three-Quarters Time (1995) .... Marie
• Tatort — Der Rastplatzmörder (1994) .... Beatrice Koch
• Ärzte: Nachtrunden (1994) .... Gila
• Franta (1989) .... Vicky

• Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003) .... Princess Alia

• Felicity: “The Last Thanksgiving” (Nov 28, 2001) .... Dana
• Harry & Sunny (1993) .... Jessica
• Heidi und Erni: “Der liebe Nachbar” (1990) .... Hertzels Nichte
• Ein Fall für zwei: “Seitensprung” (Nov 10, 1989)
• Das Nest: “Die kleine Theresa” (Jun 26, 1989) .... Nina
• Das Nest: “Die Traumfrau” (Jun 13, 1989) .... Nina
• Ein Fall für zwei: “Blut” (Apr 21, 1989)

• Actress finds more than science fiction in miniseries' story
  The Advocate (Mar 16, 2003)
  Actress Daniela Amavia's eyes used to roll back at the mention of science fiction.
• Frank Herbert's Children of Dune: Daniela Amavia
  Scifi.com
  Cast bio
• Children of Dune chat with Daniela Amavia
  Scifi.com (Feb 27, 2003)

Miscellaneous

• Daniela Amavia Filmography
  Internet Movie Database
  Always up-to-date filmography
• Daniela Amavia
  Wikipedia
  Daniela Amavia in wikireality

Daniela Amavia at Actresses A - Z