She graduated from the Faculty of Acting of the National Academy of Theatre in Warsaw, she collaborated with Ateneum, Powszechny and Studio Theatres.
"I have to admit that I much prefer tragicomedy to pure comedy or farce. I like the character to be at least a little sad, thoughtful or even tragic", she said in one of her interviews.
Her early stage creations are lost, sensitive women.
(...) if someone starts working right after school, has to experience it - roles for young women, especially in the classic repertoire, usually have some naivity to them - said Ostałowska in an interview for Rzeczpospolita. - But I have the impression that my characters were more complicated. There's also a big range of roles between a little naive girl and a role that would totally contradict my physical image. Fortunately, since directors lack courage to cast actresses contrary to their first impression.
Ostalowska played in Ernest Bryll's Tristan, Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, Arthur Schnitzler's Reigen and Tales from the Vienna Wood by Odon von Horvath.
She has been awarded the Zelwerowicz Prize and the Feliks of Warsaw, prize of the theatrical community of Warsaw - for the role of Marianna in Tales from the Vienna Wood. In 2000 she played in Maxim Gorky's Barbarians, directed by Agnieszka Glińska.
Despite all imperfections, Glińska's inscenisation is defended by a few fascinating roles. Especially by Dominika Ostałowska who plays the role of Nadezhda Polikarpovna Monakhova, a gushing femme fatale, yet touched with tragism. She is able to make many men fall in love with her, apart from one, the only one she truly cared for. Ostałowska made the text plausible right to the expected, yet moving, final shot of a gun. (Janusz R. Kowalczyk, "Rzeczpospolita")
In Teatr Powszechny she played, among others, in David Hare's Amy's View directed by Mariusz Grzegorzek. The play was mostly praised thanks to hers and Joanna Szczepkowska's roles.
Zygmunt Hubner stated that it's the right casting that decides if the play will be successful or not; I am very happy that they still remember their patron's lesson in the Powszechny Theatre. The play is wonderfully cast, both in supporting roles (Krzysztof Stroiński, Wiesława Mazurkiewicz, Marcin Władyniak), and in leading ones. Joanna Szczepkowska precisely captures the tone of Esme, which consists of frivolousness and wisdom, artistic honesty and a little bit of pretense. Thankfully the actress doesn't escape neither from defending, nor from ridiculing her character. In Dominika Ostałowska's eyes there is still faith people will act as they should - and this faith slowly fades away, while she resigns. These are two roles Warsaw hasn't yet seen this season (Jacek Sieradzki, "Polityka", 19.05.2001).
In the following years, she mostly worked with Glińska on plays such as Petr Zelenka's Wrong Side Up (2005), Ivan Vyrypayev's Illusions (2011) and Dorota Masłowska's Jak zostałam wiedźmą / How I became a Witch (2014).
On the big screen, she appeared in an adaptation of Dostoyevsky's A Gentle Creature directed by Mariusz Treliński (1995). She received prizes for this role at the Slavic and Orthodox Film Festival in Moscow and Actors' Festival in Riga.
She never worked much in cinema, but at the turn of centuries she appeared in a few meaningful features: she played in Konrad Szołajski's Musisz żyć / You have to live (1997) and Jerzy Stuhr's Historie miłosne / Love Stories (1997). She was Mała in Lech Majewski's Wojaczek (1999; for this role she was nominated for the Orzeł Polish Film Award) and Regina Lilienstern, a young Jew hidden by a Polish family in Jan Jakub Kolski's Daleko od okna / Far from the Window (2000). Three years later she was nominated for an Orzeł in the best actress in a supporting role category for Dariusz Gajewski's Warsaw. She also plays one of the main roles in the popular soap opera M jak miłość.
Updated by NMR, November 2016.