Actress Iwona Petry is known for Szamanka (1996). Petry was chosen by Director Andrzej Żuławski after he met her accidentally in a café in Warsaw. Petry was at the time a sociology student, with no previous acting experience. Although there were rumors in the Polish press that Żuławski used voodoo to improve the performance of Petry, she was in fact trained by French coach Harmel Sbraire, who had previously worked with Juliette Binoche.