Paweł Tucholski

Paweł Tucholski was born on 6 February 1969 in Żnin, a town in the Pałuki area of what is now the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. His first stage experience came as a teenager with the Albert Tison Theatre in Żnin, founded by Jerzy Lach.

He trained as a singer at the Vocal Studio in Poznań and as an actor at the State Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw. While still early in his career he twice won awards at the Actor's Song Festival in Wrocław and took the main prize at the regional theatre review in Bydgoszcz.

Tucholski was a member of the Teatr Kwadrat in Warsaw from 1993 to 1994 and of the Teatr Dramatyczny in Warsaw from 1994 to 2001. His stage work included Man of La Mancha, Gra pozorów and Jekyll and Hyde, and he wrote and performed the recital Trup i walc. He later appeared at the Teatr Rozrywki in Chorzów, in musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar as Caiaphas, and in productions at the ecological theatre Bohema House.

On screen he had more than twenty roles in films and television series, among them Młode wilki, Kochaj i tańcz, Ostatnia akcja, Dom, Boża podszewka, Klan, Złotopolscy, Kryminalni, Plebania, Prawo Agaty, Bodo, Korona królów and Barwy szczęścia. He played Father Tadeusz Rydzyk in the satirical web series Ucho Prezesa in 2017.

In dubbing he voiced and sang the title role in the Polish versions of Disney's Aladdin (1992), the sequel Aladdin and the King of Thieves and the Aladdin animated series, and voiced the adult Simba in the 1994 Polish version of The Lion King. In 2014 he competed in the first series of Polsat's Twoja twarz brzmi znajomo and finished fifth.

Tucholski kept his private life largely out of the press. He remained closely connected to his home town of Żnin and the Pałuki region, where his artistic path began. He was known among colleagues for an interest in numerology, mentioned in Robert Górski's book about the making of Ucho Prezesa.

Paweł Tucholski died on Friday 30 October 2026, aged 57. The news was first shared by Radio Żnin FM, which said it had been informed by his family, and was then reported by national outlets including TVN, Polsat News and Dziennik.pl on 31 October. The cause of death was not made public.

His death came three days after the Tadeusz Różewicz City Theatre in Gliwice announced he had joined its permanent acting company, and he had been due to return as Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Kraków Teatr Variete in March 2027. Actress Katarzyna Skrzynecka described him as a dear friend and wrote that she could not believe he had gone so young and so suddenly.

For many Polish viewers Tucholski's voice is inseparable from the Disney films of the 1990s, especially the adult Simba in The Lion King and the singing Aladdin. Radio Żnin FM said his death was painful news for the artistic community and for Żnin and Pałuki, where his career began.