Anna Paquin has signed on to play a real-life lifesaver in an upcoming Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation for CBS.

The Oscar-winning actress will star in “The Irena Sendler Story,” which recounts the experiences of the Polish social worker credited with rescuing thousands of Jewish children during World War II.

Sendler smuggled the children out of the Warsaw ghetto in bags or through sewers and hid them with families around the city, efforts which eventually led to her arrest and torture by the Gestapo.

The telefilm is based on the book “Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Irena Sendler Story,” by Anna Mieszkowska.

Shooting will begin next month in Latvia, for an April premiere.

The Winnipeg-born Paquin, 26, currently stars in HBO’s vampire drama “True Blood.” Her previous film credits include the “X-Men” series, “Fly Away Home” and “The Piano,” for which she earned the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at age 11.






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