favorite german Actors / Actresses
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- Soundtrack
Emilia Schüle was born on 28 November 1992 in Blagoveshchensk, Russia. She is an actress, known for Freche Mädchen (2008), Tatort (1970) and Dreamfactory (2019).- Sonja Gerhardt was born on 2 April 1989 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Ku'damm 56 (2016), Jack the Ripper: The London Slasher (2016) and Wild Chicks and Life (2008).
- Josefine Preuß was born on 13 January 1986 in Zehdenick, Brandenburg, Germany. She is an actress, known for Türkisch für Anfänger (2012), Türkisch für Anfänger (2006) and Sapphire Blue (2014).
- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Maria Ehrich was born on 26 February 1993 in Erfurt, Germany. She is an actress and director, known for Sapphire Blue (2014), Ruby Red (2013) and Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga (2013).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Diana Amft was born on 7 November 1975 in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany. She is an actress, known for Im weißen Rössl - Wehe Du singst! (2013), Doctor's Diary (2008) and Josephine Klick - Allein unter Cops (2014). She has been married to Arne Regul since 2011. They have one child.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Florian David Fitz was born on 20 November 1974 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for Jesus Loves Me (2012), The Most Beautiful Day (2016) and Oskars Kleid (2022).- Tom Beck was born on 26 February 1978 in Nuremberg, Bavaria, West Germany. He is an actor, known for Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei (1996), You Are Wanted (2017) and Einstein (2017). He has been married to Chryssanthi Kavazi since 18 August 2018. They have one child.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Grimme-Preis award winner, Matthias Schweighöfer, is one of Germany's most successful actors and is quickly becoming an international phenomenon.
Schweighöfer was most recently seen in Christopher Nolan's film, "Oppenheimer," Netflix's "Heart of Stone" opposite Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan and "The Swimmers" for director Sally El Hosaini. Upcoming, Schweighöfer will be seen in Netflix's "Family Switch" opposite Jennifer Garner and "Girl You Know It's True," a film based on the incredible story of the R&B duo Milli Vanilli.
A talented multi-hyphenate, Schweighöfer also discovered his love for being behind the camera and has gone on to direct multiple projects. In addition, he founded his production company, Pantaleon Film, with his producing partner Dan Maag which continues to be one of Germany's preeminent production companies.
Born behind the Berlin wall, Schweighöfer's last 10 films have all reached #1 at the German Box office. He is best known for his films "Der Geilste Tag," "Der Nanny," "100 Dinge" and "Vaterfreuden," and his first English speaking role and international film, "Valkyrie" alongside Tom Cruise and Kenneth Branagh.
Schweighöfer has continued working on international projects and produced, directed and stared in the first German-language Amazon Original Series "You Are Wanted." The series launched in over 200 countries and in 6 different languages. He also starred in and produced "Resistance" for IFC Films which also stars Jessie Eisenberg, Ed Harris and Edgar Ramirez.
Most recently, Schweighöfer Directed, Produced, and Starred in "Army of Thieves," the prequel Zack Snyder's "Army of the Dead," in which he also starred in. "Army of the Dead" was viewed in over 72 million households and quickly became one of Netflix's most viewed film of all time, and "Army of Thieves" became the Number 1 film on Netflix in 90-plus countries during its first week.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Karoline Herfurth was born on 22 May 1984 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress and director, known for Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), Text for You (2016) and Einfach mal was Schönes (2022).- Actress
- Producer
Jella Haase was born on 27 October 1992 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress and producer, known for Suck Me Shakespeer (2013), Suck Me Shakespeer 2 (2015) and Kleo (2022).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Elyas M'Barek was born on 29 May 1982 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor, known for Suck Me Shakespeer (2013), Who Am I (2014) and The Wave (2008).- Anne Menden was born on 5 October 1985 in Troisdorf, Germany. She is an actress, known for Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei (1996), Trieb (2016) and Doctor's Diary (2008).
- Alexandra Neldel was born in 1976 in West Berlin, Germany. Her parents divorced when she was a child. His father is a hunter.
It was always very hard for her to decide if she would be with her father or her mother. Maybe that is the reason why she decided to leave her parents and to live her own life at the age of 16. Yet, she has a very good relationship with her parents.
After finishing "Realschule" in Berlin-Steglitz, she started to work as a dentists' assistant. She worked only one year as a dentists' assistant, but during this time she also worked as a hostess. In 1992 she was discovered by the boss of a German casting agency during a polo competition. Although Neldel had no experience in acting, she got a role in a German daily soap opera, Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten. After leaving Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten in 1999, Neldel starred in several German motion pictures and TV films, including Lammbock, Samba in Mettmann and Emmy-winning series Berlin, Berlin.
She never really studied acting, her principle has always been "learning by doing". She always mentions in interviews that she never wanted to be an actress, it was not her dream to stand in front of the camera, she was completely satisfied with her life as a dentists' assistant. But now, she enjoys her work as an actress and it always makes her happy to give something to the audience.
2005 was the year of her breakthrough as an actress: she began to play the role of Lisa Plenske in the most successful German daily soap-opera ever. She left the series after 365 episodes. After her leaving, the majority of the audience turned aside from "Verliebt in Berlin", the series became rather unsuccessful. More than seven million German people watched the 365th episode of "Verliebt in Berlin", therefore it was a profitable production for German TV channel Sat1.
In 2006 Neldel was "best European soap actress" and got the Rose d'Or (Golden Rose) Award.
She is often considered as a sex-symbol , too - but she always refuses this kind of expression. She is also considered as a girls' girl: that means the majority of her fans are women.
She never talks about her private life, one can never read home-stories about her, as she says, she wants to keep her private life.
Nowadays she is one of the most successful actresses in Germany, she has many fans also in France, since her series "Verliebt in Berlin" was broadcast there as well: it was the most successful German series in France ever. - Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jürgen Vogel was born on 29 April 1968 in Hamburg, West Germany. He is an actor and producer, known for The Wave (2008), Der freie Wille (2006) and Life is All You Get (1997).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Daniel Brühl was born in Barcelona, Spain. His father was German TV director Hanno Brühl (1937-2010), who was born in São Paulo, Brazil. His Spanish mother was a teacher. He also has a brother and a sister, Oliver and Miriam. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Cologne, Germany, where he grew up and attended the Dreikönigsgymnasium. Brought up in a fully multilingual home, he speaks fluent German, English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Catalan.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Christoph Waltz is an Austrian-German actor. He is known for his work with American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, receiving acclaim for portraying SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009) and bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained (2012). For each performance, he won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Landa.
Christoph Waltz was born in Vienna, Austria, into a theatrical family, his mother Elisabeth Urbancic, an Austrian-born costume designer, and Johannes Waltz, a German-born stage builder. He has three siblings. His maternal grandmother was Viennese Burgtheater actress Maria Mayen, and his step-grandfather was fellow Burgtheater actor Emmerich Reimers. His maternal grandfather, Rudolf von Urban, was a psychologist and psychiatrist who wrote the 1949 book "Sex Perfection and Marital Happiness".
Waltz attended the Theresianium and Billrothstrasse in Vienna. Upon graduation, he attended the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar before going to New York to the Lee Strasberg Institute. While in New York, Christoph met his first wife, and moved back to Vienna, then to London.
During the 80s, Christoph worked primarily in theatre, commuting from his home in London to Germany. Slowly Waltz began to work in TV, taking one-off roles in series, and TV movies. Film roles soon followed. Attempts to break into English-speaking film and TV were, however, unsuccessful. Waltz has expressed his gratitude to have been able to make a living and support his family through acting. For thirty years he worked steadily, tirelessly, in this manner.
It was not until he met Quentin Tarantino that his career in Hollywood took off. The role of Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (2009) catapulted Waltz from a lifetime working in German TV/film to the new life of an international superstar and Academy Award-winning actor. He won 27 awards for his performance as Hans Landa, including the Cannes prix d'interpretation Masculin for 2009, the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, the BAFTA Best Supporting Actor award, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (which he won again for 2012's Django Unchained (2012)).
He also has portrayed computer genius Qohen Leth in the film The Zero Theorem (2013), American plagiarist Walter Keane in the biographical film _Big Eyes (2014), and 007's nemesis and head of SPECTRE Ernst Stavro Blofeld in _Spectre (2015)_. In Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, Waltz portrayed SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa, aka "The Jew Hunter". Clever, courteous, and multilingual - but also self-serving, cunning, implacable, and murderous. Waltz played gangster Benjamin Chudnofsky in The Green Hornet (2011). That same year, he starred in Water for Elephants (2011), Roman Polanski's Carnage (2011), and a remake of The Three Musketeers (2011). He played German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012), a role Tarantino wrote specifically for Waltz.
Waltz resides in Berlin and Los Angeles. His wife is costume builder Judith Holste.- Actress
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Diane Kruger was born Diane Heidkrüger in Algermissen, near Hildesheim, Germany, to Maria-Theresa, a bank employee, and Hans-Heinrich Heidkrüger, a computer specialist. She studied ballet with the Royal Ballet in London before an injury ended her career. She returned to Germany and became a top fashion model. She later pursued acting and relocated to Paris at the suggestion of filmmaker Luc Besson (The Fifth Element (1997)). She married French actor Guillaume Canet (The Beach (2000)) in 2001.- Felicitas Woll was born on 20 January 1980 in Harbshausen, Hessen, Germany. She is an actress, known for Berlin, Berlin (2002), Dresden (2006) and Die Ungehorsame (2015).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
The German actor became one of the most popular actors on comedic television alongside Anke Engelke in the comedy series "Ladykracher". Christoph Maria Herbst was initially seen at the Bremerhaven City Theater from 1992 to 1996, until he switched to television in 1998 with participation in series such as "Balko" and "Alarm für Cobra 11". In 2000 he played in the series "Die Wache" until he switched to comedy with "Ladykracher" in 2001. For his performance he was awarded the German Comedy Award "Best Supporting Actor" in 2002. He appeared in front of a cinema camera for the first time in 2002 for "The Really Last Bachelor" and "Lassie". From 2004 onwards, the TV series "Stromberg" became his star role, in which he played the lazy and power-hungry office worker "Bernd Stromberg". In 2005 he was awarded the "Bavarian Television Prize" and the German Comedy Prize "Best Actor" for the successful series. The "Adolf Grimme Prize" followed in 2006. His most popular films include "The Wixxer" (2003), "(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Period 1" (2003), "On Searching and Finding Love" (2004), "Erkan & Stefan - Death Comes Krass" ( 2004) and "Hui Buh, das Schlossgespenst" (2006) alongside Michael "Bully" Herbig.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Nora Tschirner was born on 12 June 1981 in East Berlin, East Germany. She is an actress and producer, known for Rabbit Without Ears (2007), Tatort (1970) and Kebab Connection (2004).- Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Michael Fassbender is an Irish actor who was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a German father, Josef, and an Irish mother, Adele (originally from Larne, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland). Michael was raised in the town of Killarney, Co. Kerry, in south-west Ireland, where his family moved to when he was two years old. His parents ran a restaurant (his father is a chef).
Fassbender is based in London, England, and became known in the U.S. after his role in the Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009). In 2011, Fassbender debuted as the Marvel antihero Magneto in the prequel X-Men: First Class (2011); he would go on to share the role with Ian McKellen in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). Also in 2011, Fassbender's performance as a sex addict in Shame (2011) received critical acclaim. He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards. In 2013, his role as slave owner Edwin Epps in slavery epic 12 Years a Slave (2013) was similarly praised, earning him his first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. 12 Years a Slave marked Fassbender's third collaboration with Steve McQueen, who also directed Hunger and Shame. In 2013, Fassbender appeared in another Ridley Scott film, The Counselor (2013). In 2015, he portrayed Steve Jobs (2015) in the Danny Boyle-directed biopic of the same name, and played Macbeth (2015) in Justin Kurzel's adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. For the former, he has received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for Best Actor. As well as acting, Fassbender produced the 2015 western Slow West (2015), which he also starred in.- Jana Pallaske was born on 20 May 1979 in East Berlin, German Democratic Republic. She is an actress, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Palermo Shooting (2008) and Speed Racer (2008).
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Axel Stein was born on 28 February 1982 in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He is an actor and director, known for Hausmeister Krause - Ordnung muss sein (1999), More Ants in the Pants (2002) and Axel! (2002).- Actor
- Soundtrack
David Kross was born on July 4, 1990 in Bargteheide, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany next to Hamburg. He attended Eckhorst High School in Bargteheide till 2007. In this period, he first appears in the German movie Verzauberte Emma oder Hilfe, ich bin ein Junge... ! (2002). He also receives his first leading role in the movie Tough Enough (2006) directed by Detlev Buck.
In 2007 Stephen Daldry cast Kross in the adaption of his best selling novel "The Reader (2008)" provided that Kross had to learn English until the start of shooting. Later, Kross was honored with the Chopard trophy at the 62nd Cannes Festival playing on of the leading roles, opposite Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes.
He subsequently stars in War Horse (2011) and Into the White (2012).- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Isolda Dychauk was born in Surgut, Western Siberia on February 4th, 1993. Her first high-profile film was the lead role in Faust (2011), directed by Russian auteur Aleksandr Sokurov, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Following the film's success, she was cast in her first English-language project, the international series Borgia (2011), produced by Tom Fontana. Since then she has gone on to work with directing stalwarts like Athina Rachel Tsangari, Denis Côté, Gust Van den Berghe, etc. Her latest film, The Book of Vision (2020), co-starring Charles Dance and executive produced by Terrence Malick premiered this year at the Venice Film Festival. Isolda now resides in Los Angeles where she is collaborating on a new half fiction project with her fiancé, Mike Ott.- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
Hendrik Duryn was born on 8 October 1967 in Leipzig, German Democratic Republic. He is an actor, known for Der Lehrer (2009), Alarm für Cobra 11 - Einsatz für Team 2 (2003) and Einmal Bulle, immer Bulle (2004).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jessica Ginkel was born on 12 August 1980 in West Berlin, West Germany. She is an actress, known for Der Lehrer (2009), Radio Silence (2012) and Das Traumschiff (1981).- Laura Osswald was born on 8 March 1982 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. She is an actress, known for Suck Me Shakespeer (2013), Schulmädchen (2002) and Verliebt in Berlin (2005). She has been married to Krishan Weber since December 2014. They have one child.
- Vinzenz was born in 1979 in Weilburg/Lahn. He grew up in a small village between two farms. He loved chasing chickens as well as building cabins in the woods and playing with fire. His parents' video collection was also an early passion of his (later on he took care of it completely and since then, he has expanded it significantly). Movies like "King of Kings", "Zorro", "Three Musketeers", and "Robin Hood" were key experiences while he was a boy, as well as films about pirates. Later on titles like "Batman" and "Legend" would find his attention, and Vinzenz could be seen quite often in a Batman costume - or running around, painting big Zs on front doors. After trying to invent a time machine several times or to find diamonds in the forests or to dig a hole to the center of the earth (and failing each time, of course) he finally turned to every-day life and meeting people and finding friends. Learning by doing became to be one of his favorite principles, and he used it to get familiar with riding a motor scooter, smoking or finding his rank within the gang and impressing the girls. One day while visiting the Cologne film studios Vinzenz was crowded by a bunch of girls pleading for his autograph. Some people in a production studio watched this scene and invited him for an interview, after which he was offered a part in a TV series. Vinzenz declined because he did not feel ready to leave his home and his friends. But the production studio kept on asking him, and so, after finishing school, Vinzenz finally agreed to take this chance.