The Best Actresses Ever - Germany
by dziwnytenswiat | created - 02 Oct 2017 | updated - 1 week ago | PublicNative Speakers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Points from my "The Best Films Ever Made"-Lists. Vol. 1 = 100%, Vol. 2 = 50%, Vol. 3 = 33%, Vol. 4 = 25%, Vol. 5 = 20 %, Vol. 6 = 17%
1. Romy Schneider
Actress | L'important c'est d'aimer
Romy Schneider was born on 23 September 1938 in Vienna, Austria into a family of actors. Making her film debut at the age of 15, her breakthrough came two years later in the very popular trilogy Sissi (1955). Her mother, supervising her daughter's career, immediately approved Romy's participation ...
5934 points
2. Marlene Dietrich
Soundtrack | Witness for the Prosecution
Her father was a police lieutenant and imbued in her a military attitude to life. Marlene was known in school for her "bedroom eyes" and her first affairs were at this stage in her life - a professor at the school was terminated. She entered the cabaret scene in 1920s Germany, first as a spectator ...
5735 points
3. Diane Kruger
Actress | Inglourious Basterds
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 ...
3435 points
4. Alexandra Maria Lara
Actress | Der Untergang
Born on 12 November 1978 in Bucharest, Romania, Alexandra Maria Lara fled to Germany with her parents when she was four and half years old. After graduating at the French High School, she studied acting at the Theaterwerkstatt Charlottenburg from 1997 and 2000, but had already played leading ...
2885 points
5. Barbara Sukowa
Actress | Hannah Arendt
A strikingly beautiful German lead actress, Barbara Sukowa broke into TV and films as the protégée of famed director Rainer Werner Fassbinder with his masterpiece mini-series Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) and the moody film drama Lola (1981) in the title role. In the latter, Barbara won critical ...
2590 points
6. Brigitte Mira
Actress | Angst essen Seele auf
Brigitte Mira was born on April 20, 1910 in Hamburg, Germany. She was an actress, known for Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975) and Chinese Roulette (1976). She was married to Frank Guerente, Paul Cornelius, Peter Schütte, Horst Fabian and Reinhold Tabatt. She died ...
2455 points
7. Hanna Schygulla
Actress | Die Ehe der Maria Braun
Lead icon of the influential New German Cinema of the 70's & 80's, Schygulla's natural blonde beauty and amazing versatility keep her among the world's top actresses. She won best actress at Cannes in 1983 for The Story of Piera (1983) (aka "The Story of Piera"), an Italian/German co-production. The...
2350 points
8. Martina Gedeck
Actress | Das Leben der Anderen
Martina Gedeck was born in Munich. After spending a year in the US, she studied drama at the Berlin University of the Arts. Martina's film career began while she was still at drama school. Her filmography covers practically all genres of film.
Gedeck has won a total of 23 major cinema and TV awards....
2216 points
9. Steffi Kühnert
Actress | Halt auf freier Strecke
Steffi Kühnert was born on February 19, 1963 in East Berlin, East Germany. She is an actress, known for Stopped on Track (2011), The White Ribbon (2009) and Grill Point (2002).
1887 points
10. Sandra Hüller
Actress | Anatomie d'une chute
Sandra Hüller was born in Suhl. She studied acting at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. For her performance of Anneliese Michel in Hans-Christian Schmid's drama Requiem she won The Silver Bear for Best Actress. She is internationally known for her starring role in Maren Ade's Toni...
1764 points
11. Susanne Lothar
Actress | Funny Games
Susanne Lothar was born on November 15, 1960 in Hamburg, Germany. She was an actress, known for Funny Games (1997), The White Ribbon (2009) and The Reader (2008). She was married to Ulrich Mühe. She died on July 21, 2012 in Berlin, Germany.
1668 points
12. Angela Winkler
Actress | Suspiria
Angela Winkler was born on January 22, 1944 in Templin, Brandenburg, Germany. She is an actress, known for Suspiria (2018), The Tin Drum (1979) and The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975).
1546 points
13. Brigitte Helm
Actress | Metropolis
Born in Berlin, Germany. After her role in Metropolis (1927) she made a string of movies in which she almost always had the starring role, easily making the transition to sound films. Her last film was An Ideal Spouse (1935) which was released in 1935. She died on June 11th 1996 of heart failure in...
1401 points
14. Birgit Minichmayr
Actress | Der Untergang
Birgit Minichmayr was born on April 3, 1977 in Linz, Upper Austria, Austria. She is an actress, known for Downfall (2004), The White Ribbon (2009) and Everyone Else (2009).
1319 points
15. Nadja Uhl
Actress | Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
Nadja Uhl was born on May 23, 1972 in Stralsund, German Democratic Republic. She is an actress, known for The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008), Operation Sugar (2012) and Divided We Stand (2022).
1260 points
16. Paula Beer
Actress | Undine
Paula Beer was born on February 23, 1995 in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. She is an actress, known for Undine (2020), Frantz (2016) and The Dark Valley (2014).
1249 points
17. Julia Jentsch
Actress | Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage
After school, Jentsch turned to acting. She attended the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. Jentsch then began her acting career in the theater. In 2001 she joined the ensemble of the Munich Kammerspiele, where she masterfully interpreted Desdemona in Shakespeare's "Othello", Sophocles...
1236 points
18. Marthe Keller
Actress | Marathon Man
Marthe Keller was born on January 28, 1945 in Basel, Switzerland. She studied ballet as a child but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16. She changed to acting, and worked in Berlin at the Schiller Theatre and the Berliner Ensemble.
Keller's earliest film appearances were in Funeral in Berlin (...
1189 points
19. Nina Hoss
Actress | Phoenix
Nina Hoss was born on July 7, 1975 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is an actress, known for Phoenix (2014), Tár (2022) and A Most Wanted Man (2014). She has been married to Alex Silva since 2015.
1115 points
20. Hannah Herzsprung
Actress | The Reader
Hannah Herzsprung was born on September 7, 1981 in Hamburg, West Germany. She is an actress, known for The Reader (2008), Who Am I (2014) and Four Minutes (2006).
1098 points
21. Lilli Palmer
Actress | Anastasia - Die letzte Zarentochter
A charming, elegant, and exceedingly popular international film star with a gentle, understated beauty, actress Lilli Palmer was born as Lilli Marie Peiser on May 24, 1914, in Posen, Prussia. She was the daughter of Rose Lissman, an Austrian Jewish actress, and Alfred Peiser, a German Jewish ...
1096 points
22. Maria Schell
Actress | Superman
Maria Schell studied in a religious institution in Colmar (Haut-Rhin, France). She received a dramatic training in Zurich, Switzerland. To pay her studies, she was a secretary there. Besides being a film star; Maria appeared in plays in Zurich, Basel, in Vienna (Josefstad Theater), Berlin, Munich (...
1075 points
23. Corinna Harfouch
Actress | Der Untergang
Growing up as the daughter of the teacher Wolfgang Meffert and his wife Marianne née Kleber, she attended school in Großenhain from 1961 to 1973. She completed her Abitur at the extended high school. After training as a nurse, she began studying textile engineering at the TU Dresden in 1976. From ...
1026 points
24. Liselotte Pulver
Actress | One, Two, Three
She attended business school, after graduating from which she turned to acting. Pulver quickly received his first major roles in the theater. In 1949 she celebrated her film debut in "Swiss Tour" alongside Simone Signoret, Cornel Wilde and Heinrich Gretler. In 1954 the actress made her breakthrough...
1025 points
25. Lil Dagover
Actress | Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
A prominent German film actress born on 30 September 1887 at Madiven, Java, the daughter of a forest ranger in the service of the Dutch authorities. Sent at the age of ten to Baden-Baden to study, she later entered the cinema thanks to her marriage in 1917 to the actor Fritz Dagover who was 25 ...
984 points
26. Annemarie Düringer
Actress | Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss
Annemarie Düringer was born on November 26, 1925 in Basel, Switzerland. She was an actress, known for Veronika Voss (1982), The Devil Strikes at Night (1957) and Vor Sonnenuntergang (1956). She died on November 26, 2014 in Baden, Lower Austria, Austria.
972 points
27. Katrin Sass
Actress | Good Bye Lenin!
Katrin Sass was born on October 23, 1956 in Schwerin, German Democratic Republic. She is an actress, known for Good Bye Lenin! (2003), The Weissensee Saga (2010) and Bürgschaft für ein Jahr (1981). She was previously married to Siegfried Kühn.
970 points
28. Hildegard Knef
Actress | Jeder stirbt für sich allein
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was born on December 28, 1925 in Ulm, Germany. In 1940, she began to study acting. Even before the fall of the Third Reich, she appeared in several films, but most of them were only released after the war. To avoid being raped by Soviet soldiers, she dressed like a ...
882 points
29. Camilla Horn
Actress | Schloß Königswald
The daughter of a railroad official, Camilla Horn was educated in Germany and Switzerland. She initially trained as a dressmaker and received her first job experience in a fashion salon in Erfurt. This was merely a stepping stone for a performing career which began with dance lessons in Berlin and ...
830 points
30. Eva Mattes
Actress | Enemy at the Gates
Versatile stage and screen actress best known for Werner Herzog films (Best Supporting winner at Cannes for "Woyzeck"). Possibly her most acclaimed starring role is as her mentor 'Rainer Werner Fassbinder' in "A Man Called EVA" (Fassbinder, who treated Eva Mattes kindly, was sometimes referred to ...
828 points
31. Rosel Zech
Actress | Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss
Rosel Zech was born on July 7, 1940 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Veronika Voss (1982), Salmonberries (1991) and The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time (1985). She died on August 31, 2011 in Berlin, Germany.
826 points
32. Katharina Thalbach
Actress | Die Blechtrommel
Katharina Thalbach was born on January 19, 1954 in East Berlin, East Germany. She is an actress and director, known for The Tin Drum (1979), Der Minister (2013) and I've Never Been to New York (2019). She is married to Uwe Hamacher.
819 points
33. Karoline Herfurth
Actress | Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Karoline Herfurth was born on May 22, 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).
818 points
34. Gudrun Landgrebe
Actress | Die Katze
Gudrun Landgrebe was born on June 20, 1950 in Göttingen, Lower Saxony, West Germany. She is an actress, known for Die Katze (1988), Yerma (1984) and A Woman in Flames (1983). She has been married to Ulrich von Nathusius since June 2001.
803 points
35. Juliane Köhler
Actress | Der Untergang
Juliane Köhler was born on August 6, 1965 in Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. She is an actress, known for Downfall (2004), Aimee & Jaguar (1999) and Nowhere in Africa (2001). She has been married to Michael Rösch since 1996. They have two children.
786 points
36. Franka Potente
Actress | Lola rennt
Franka Potente was born on 22 July 1974 in the German city of Münster, to Hildegard, a medical assistant, and Dieter Potente, a teacher, and raised in the nearby town of Dülmen. After her graduation in 1994, she went to the Otto-Falckenberg-Schule, a drama school in Munich, but soon broke off to ...
765 points
37. Katharina Schüttler
Actress | Freier Fall
Katharina Schüttler started acting for film and television when she was 11 years old. Her breakthrough in Germany was the International Emmy Award winning Mini-Series "Generation War" ("Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter") in which she portrayed singer Greta del Torres. She appeared in many films for ...
745 points
38. Johanna Wokalek
Actress | Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
Johanna Wokalek was born on March 3, 1975 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany. She is an actress, known for The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008), Pope Joan (2009) and Barefoot (2005). She is married to Thomas Hengelbrock. They have one child.
551 points
39. Elke Sommer
Actress | A Shot in the Dark
This gorgeous Teutonic temptress was one of Hollywood's most captivating imports of the 1960s. Blonde and beautiful, Berlin-born Elke Sommer, with her trademark pouty lips, high cheekbones and sky-high bouffant hairdos, proved irresistible to American audiences, whether adorned in lace or leather, ...
517 points
40. Nastassja Kinski
Actress | Tess
Nastassja Kinski was born Nastassja Aglaia Nakszynski on January 24, 1961 in Berlin, Germany, the daughter of German actor Klaus Kinski. In 1976, she met director Roman Polanski, who urged her to study method acting with Lee Strasberg in the United States. Kinski starred in the Italian romantic ...
490 points
41. Hannelore Elsner
Actress | Die Kommissarin
One of the pre-eminent divas of post-war German cinema, Hannelore Elsner (born 'Elstner') was the consummate actress: a gifted and versatile performer with a penchant for intense roles, often as emancipated, strong-willed women. A Bavarian engineer's daughter (her father died of tuberculosis when ...
488 points
42. Katja Riemann
Actress | Fack ju Göhte
Katja Riemann was born on November 1, 1963 in Kirchweyhe, Weyhe, Lower Saxony, Germany. She is an actress and director, known for Suck Me Shakespeer (2013), Rosenstrasse (2003) and Bandits (1997).
470 points
43. Senta Berger
Actress | Kir Royal
Senta Berger was born in 1941 in Vienna, Austria to her father Josef Berger who was a musician and her mother Therese Berger, a school teacher. Senta and her father performed together when she was just four years old. She sang and her dad played the piano. At five years old, she took ballet lessons...
441 points
44. Barbara Auer
Actress | Nachtschicht
Barbara Auer was born on February 1, 1959 in Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is an actress, known for Nachtschicht (2003), The Book Thief (2013) and Das Ende einer Nacht (2012).
437 points
45. Andrea Sawatzki
Actress | Tatort
She grew up in Vaihingen as the daughter of a nurse and a journalist. Her father suffered from Alzheimer's and cancer and died when she was 13 years old. Mother and daughter took turns caring for her. After graduating from school with a high school diploma, she studied at the New Munich Drama ...
436 points
46. Karin Dor
Actress | You Only Live Twice
Born Kätherose Derr in Wiesbaden, Karin Dor studied acting and ballet at school and began in films as an extra. The attractive redhead made an indelible impression on Austrian director Harald Reinl (who became her first husband in 1954) and this paved the way to higher profile roles. Her first ...
394 points
47. Fritzi Haberlandt
Actress | Kalt ist der Abendhauch
Fritzi Haberlandt was born in East Berlin, German Democratic Republic on 6th June. She is a theater and television actor known for her roles in Kalt ist der Abendhauch (2000), Babylon Berlin (2017), Summer Window (2011), Liegen lernen (2003), Deutschland 86 (2018) and Deutschland 89 (2020). She won...
376 points
48. Maria Schrader
Director | She Said
Maria Schrader was born in Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany, on September 27th, 1965. She directed and co-wrote the screenplay of the awards-winning film Liebesleben (2007). As well, she directed Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe (2016) and the Emmy-award wining miniseries Unorthodox (2020) (...
375 points
49. Laura Tonke
Actress | Baader
Laura Tonke was born on April 14, 1974 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress and writer, known for Baader (2002), Hedi Schneider Is Stuck (2015) and Pigs Will Fly (2002).
368 points
50. Hedy Lamarr
Actress | Samson and Delilah
Hedy Lamarr, the woman many critics and fans alike regard as the most beautiful ever to appear in films, was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria. She was the daughter of Gertrud (Lichtwitz), from Budapest, and Emil Kiesler, a banker from Lemberg (now known as Lviv). Her parents were ...
330 points
51. Jördis Triebel
Actress | Westen
Jördis Triebel was born on October 30, 1977 in East-Berlin, German Democratic Republic. She is an actress, known for West (2013), Emmas Glück (2006) and One Breath (2015).
328 points
52. Bibiana Beglau
Actress | Die Stille nach dem Schuss
Bibiana Beglau was born on July 16, 1971 in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany. She is an actress, known for The Legend of Rita (2000), Unter dem Eis (2005) and Luna's Revenge (2017).
302 points
53. Luise Rainer
Actress | The Great Ziegfeld
Luise Rainer, the first thespian to win back-to-back Oscars, was born on January 12, 1910 in Dusseldorf, Germany, into a prosperous Jewish family. Her parents were Emilie (Königsberger) and Heinrich Rainer, a businessman. She took to the stage, and plied her craft on the boards in Germany. As a ...
258 points
54. Saskia Rosendahl
Actress | Lore
Saskia Rosendahl was born on July 9, 1993 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. She is an actress, known for Lore (2012), The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018) and Fabian: Going to the Dogs (2021).
254 points
55. Monica Bleibtreu
Actress | Vier Minuten
Monica Bleibtreu was born on May 4, 1944 in Vienna, Austria. She was an actress and writer, known for Four Minutes (2006), Die Manns - Ein Jahrhundertroman (2001) and Run Lola Run (1998). She was married to Hans-Peter Korff. She died on May 13, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany.
187 points
56. Marie Bäumer
Actress | Im Angesicht des Verbrechens
Marie Bäumer was born on May 7, 1969 in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany. She is an actress and writer, known for In the Face of Crime (2010), The Counterfeiters (2007) and 3 Days in Quiberon (2018).
185 points
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