My favorite European actors and actresses
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Sebastian Koch is one of the most internationally sought-after German actors of his generation. After stage engagements in Berlin, Bochum and Darmstadt, the Karlsruhe native was twice awarded the "Grimme Prize" in 2002 for the title role in Peter Keglevic's "Der Tanz mit dem Teufel - Die Entführung des Richard Oetker" (Dance with the devil - The kidnapping of Richard Oetker) and for his acting performance as Klaus Mann in the family story "The Manns" by Heinrich Breloer. He also received the "Bavarian Television Award" for his portrayal of Klaus Mann. His international breakthrough came in 2006 with director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Oscar-winning theatrical success "The Lives Of Others". For his outstanding portrayal of the GDR writer Georg Dreyman, Koch received numerous nominations and awards, including the 2007 Italian Foreign Press Award, the "Globo d'Oro" for Best European Actor.
He has since appeared in numerous international film productions. His performances in the historical drama "Napoleon" alongside Isabella Rossellini, Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich, and alongside Catherine Deneuve in Benoît Jaquot's "Princesse Marie" (Marie Bonaparte, 2004) brought him great attention. He starred in Constantin Costa-Gavra's Hochhuth adaptation "Amen" (2002) and played the title role in Jo Baier's documentary "Stauffenberg". He received the "German Television Award" for his portrayal of Nazi criminal Albert Speer in Heinrich Breloer's multi-part series "Speer and Hitler".
Together with Paul Verhoeven, Sebastian Koch filmed the World War II drama "Black Book" (Zwartboek, 2006) and was nominated for an "Emmy Award" in 2008 for his portrayal of the title role in the international co-production "The Sea Wolf", based on Jack London's classic. He also appeared in Jaume Collet-Serra's "Unknown" (2011) with Liam Neeson, as well as Mike Figgis' "Suspension Of Disbelief" (2012). He assumed the lead role in the most successful Greek film of 2012, "God Loves Caviar" (O Theös Agapäei To Chaviäri), alongside John Cleese and Catherine Deneuve. Koch starred alongside Bruce Willis in John Moore's "A Good Day To Die Hard" (2013) and in the pilot of Ridley Scott's US series "The Vatican" (2014). He then co-starred with Daniel Auteuil in the German-French feature film "Kalinka" (Au Nom De Ma Fille, 2015) and with Oscar winners Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hooper in Hooper's Oscar-nominated bestselling adaptation "The Danish Girl" (2016). That same year, Sebastian Koch joined Tom Hanks in front of the camera for Steven Spielberg's "Bridge Of Spies", a story about brokering the first agent exchange in the Cold War - the film was nominated for an "Academy Award". Koch was lauded for his leading role in Kai Wessel's "Fog In August" (2016). In "Bel Canto" (2017), a film by Paul Weitz, he stars alongside Julianne Moore and Ken Watanabe. In the 5th and 6th seasons of the US series "Homeland", he played the German entrepreneur Otto Düring. The film "Never Look Away", yet another collaboration with director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, gained international attention after it premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in fall 2018 and was nominated for several Oscars and Golden Globes. Sebastian Koch received the "Bambi" in the category "Best Actor National" for the role of Prof. Seeband in 2018. In 2021, he was awarded the European film prize "Die Europa" at the Braunschweig International Film Festival. Most recently, Sebastian Koch starred in the German-Austrian thriller series "Euer Ehren" (Your Honor), which is set to air in spring 2022 on the German public broadcaster Das Erste. He was also involved in the creation of the scripts.
Sebastian Koch has been a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since July 2019.
In addition to his acting work, he regularly delights audiences with symphonic-scenic readings, including "Paradise" with violinist Daniel Hope, "Dream Story" with the Hubert Nuss Jazz Quartet and recently "The Kreutzer Sonata" after L. Tolstoy, which Sebastian Koch dramaturgically adapted and conceived as a stage play with piano and violin.- Actor
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Max von Sydow was born Carl Adolf von Sydow on April 10, 1929 in Lund, Skåne, Sweden, to a middle-class family. He was the son of Baroness Maria Margareta (Rappe), a teacher, and Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, an ethnologist and folklore professor. His surname traces back to his partial German ancestry.
When he was in high school, he and a few fellow students, including Yvonne Lombard, started a theatre club which encouraged his interest in acting. After conscription, he began to study at the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school (1948-1951), together with Lars Ekborg, Margaretha Krook and Ingrid Thulin. His first role was as Nils the crofter in Alf Sjöberg's Only a Mother (1949). After graduation, he worked at the city theatres in Norrköping and Malmö.
His work in the movies by Ingmar Bergman (especially The Seventh Seal (1957), including the iconic scenes in which he plays chess with Death) made him well-known internationally, and he started to get offers from abroad. His career abroad began with him playing Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965); Hawaii (1966) and The Quiller Memorandum (1966). Since then, his career includes very different kind of characters, like Karl Oskar Nilsson in The Emigrants (1971); Father Lankester Merrin in The Exorcist (1973); Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor (1975), Emperor Ming in Flash Gordon (1980); the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the Never Say Never Again (1983); Liet-Kynes in Dune (1984) the artist Frederick in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); Lassefar in Pelle the Conqueror (1987), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination; Dr. Peter Ingham in Awakenings (1990); Lamar Burgess in Minority Report (2002) and The Renter in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), which earned him his second Academy Award nomination.
He became one of Sweden's most admired and professional actors, and is the only male Swedish actor to receive an Oscar nomination. He was nominated twice: for Pelle the Conqueror (1987) in 1988 and for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) in 2012. He received the Guldbagge Award for Best Director in his directing debut, the drama film Ved vejen (1988). In 2016, he joined the sixth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011) as the Three-eyed Raven, which earned him his Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Max von Sydow died on March 8, 2020, in Provence, France, and was survived by his wife Catherine Brelet and four children. He was 90.- Actor
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Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor, producer and screenwriter. He graduated from the Danish National School of Theatre in Copenhagen in 1993. Coster-Waldau's breakthrough performance in Denmark was his role in the film Nightwatch (1994). Since then he has appeared in numerous films in his native Scandinavia and Europe in general, including Headhunters (2011) and A Thousand Times Good Night (2013).
In the United States, his debut film role was in the war film Black Hawk Down (2001), playing Medal of Honor recipient Gary Gordon. He then played Detective John Amsterdam in the short-lived Fox television series New Amsterdam (2008), as well as appearing as Frank Pike in the 2009 Fox television film Virtuality, originally intended as a pilot. He became widely known for his role as Jaime Lannister in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2018. He is a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, drawing attention to critical issues such as gender equality and climate change.
Coster-Waldau was born in Rudkøbing, Denmark, the son of Hanne Søborg Coster, a librarian, and Jørgen Oscar Fritzer Waldau (died 1998). He has spoken in interviews about his father's problems with alcohol, as well as his parents' divorce. He has two older sisters, and was raised mainly by his mother. He grew up in Tybjerg, a small village between Ringsted and Næstved in southern Zealand. Coster-Waldau was the youngest actor to enter the Danish National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance (Danish: Statens Teaterskole), where he was educated from 1989 to 1993.
In 2001, he began his U.S. career in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down as Medal of Honor recipient Gary Gordon. Coster-Waldau says "My first U.S. movie was Black Hawk Down and a friend helped me put myself on tape up on the attic over my apartment in Copenhagen. We shipped it out and I got lucky."
Since April 2011, Coster-Waldau has played Jaime Lannister in the HBO hit series Game of Thrones, based on George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novel series. He commented about the character "What's not to like about Jaime? As an actor I couldn't ask for a better role". For his role as Jaime Lannister he has received several accolades, including Primetime Emmy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics' Choice Television Award, Saturn Award and People's Choice Award nominations.
In 2011, he also starred alongside Sam Shepard in Mateo Gil's feature Blackthorn, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Later the same year he starred in Morten Tyldum's Headhunters. The film went on to be the highest-grossing Norwegian film of all-time and received very positive reviews including a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Film. Coster-Waldau starred in the 2013 horror film Mama alongside Jessica Chastain, which debuted at number one in the US box office and grossed over $140 million worldwide. He went on to play Sykes, a military weapons expert in the science fiction action thriller film Oblivion. The same year he co-starred with Juliette Binoche in Erik Poppe's drama A Thousand Times Good Night. In 2014, he starred in Susanne Bier's Danish thriller A Second Chance as Andreas, a police officer forced to make a difficult choice. In 2016, Coster-Waldau appeared in the action-fantasy film Gods of Egypt as Horus.
In early 2017, he starred in E.L. Katz's dark comedy Small Crimes which premiered at South by Southwest film festival on 11 March 2017, to positive reviews. Coster-Waldau then appeared in the Danish film 3 Things, a thriller about a prime suspect of a bank robbery who negotiates the terms of his witness protection deal. He starred in Roman Waugh's prison film Shot Caller, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on 16 June 2017. Since January 2018 he has been the L'Oréal Paris global spokesperson for the company's Men Expert line of products. In May 2017, it was announced that he is attached to star in Domino, a film directed by Brian De Palma. He is also set to star in The Silencing, a thriller directed by Anders Engstom.
Although Coster-Waldau is not religious, like the vast majority of Danes, he was baptized and confirmed as a Lutheran in the Danish National Church during his youth and viewed his confirmation as a big moment in his life when he first identified as becoming an adult. He married Nukâka, a Greenlandic actress and singer, in 1998, and they live in Kongens Lyngby with their two daughters as well as two dogs. Their daughter Filippa has starred in a Danish short film, The Girl and the Dogs, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. His father-in-law is Josef Motzfeldt, a member of the Parliament of Greenland and former leader of the Community of the People party. He is a supporter of English football club Leeds United and he is a member of the Leeds United Supporters' Trust.- Actor
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Pilou Asbæk graduated from The Danish National School of Performing Arts in 2008. In the same year, he played the leading role in Niels Arden Oplev's drama Worlds Apart. In 2010 he had his breakthrough as the inmate Rune in Lindholm & Noer's prison drama R for which he won the prize for Best actor at The Danish Critic Association Award, Bodil, and at the Danish Film Academy Awards, Robert. Furthermore, he was pointed as Shooting Star at the Berlinale in 2011 for this performance; an honor that is given to ten European Actors. Also, for three years he starred in the BAFTA winning and critically acclaimed television series Borgen as Kasper Juul; spin doctor for the Danish Prime Minister. The following years Pilou played the leading role in Tobias Lindholm's A Hijacking and A War. A War was nominated in the category Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards 2015. In 2014, Pilou shot Luc-Besson's LUCY starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman, and this year he played Pontius Pilate in Timur Bekmambetov's BEN-HUR. In 2017 he again played opposite Scarlett Johansson in Rupert Sander's Ghost in the Shell as Batou. Pilou has starred as Euron Greyjoy in the 6th and 7th seasons of HBO's acclaimed series Game of Thrones.- Actor
- Casting Department
Henning Valin Jakobsen was born on 25 July 1965 in Denmark. He is an actor, known for Department Q: The Absent One (2014), The Bridge (2011) and Bedrag (2016).- Born Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist in Stockholm, Sweden, it wasn't until he was over a year old when he was finally adopted from the orphanage he had been given to. His father was a lawyer and his mother a writer. It wasn't until he had his first child that he decided to seek out his biological parents. After a long journey, he met his biological mother who is Swedish and is now close to his biological father who is Italian and a pharmacist.
Acting wasn't always originally on the agenda for Nyqvist. A career in hockey was desired until an injury lead to an early retirement. At the age of 17, Nyqvist went to Omaha, Nebraska in America as an exchange student for a year. This is where his passion for acting first sparked. He took his first acting classes and played in addition to other roles, a part in a school version of the drama Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
However, upon returning to Sweden he got accepted into Ballet school but after one year gave it up insisting he was too "stiff" and twirls and twists were not for him. An ex-girlfriend suggested to try theatre instead and at 19 years old, he was accepted into the Swedish Academic School of Drama in Malmö. He then went onto work mainly in theatre but also had several parts in film productions.
He became well known for his role as police officer Banck in the first series of Beck (1997) films made in 1997. His big breakthrough in European cinema came three years later, as he starred as Rolf, an alcoholic and abusive husband, in a film by Lukas Moodysson called Together (2000). This role landed him his first Guldbagge nomination (Best Supporting Actor) and won him the Best Actor award at the Gijón International Film Festival.
The accolades, awards and nominations flowed on from there. In 2002, Nyqvist played the leading man in the Swedish romantic comedy-drama, Grabben i graven bredvid (2002) directed by Kjell Sundvall and based on the novel of the same name written by Katarina Mazetti. He won a Best Actor Guldbagge award for his performance. The following year, Nyqvist starred as the leading role in As It Is in Heaven (2004) which was Academy Award nominated for Best Foreign Film and his performance as an internationally renowned, struggling conductor earned Nyqvist his second nomination for a Best Actor Guldbagge award. In 2006, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Guldbagge award for his role in the film Mother of Mine (2005).
Over the next few years he went on to star in several other films and plays as part of the Royal Dramatic Theatre. A notable role that Nyqvist portrayed was that of Swedish ambassador Harald Edelstam in the film The Black Pimpernel (2007). Edelstam was a hero that saved several lives from execution in Chile during and after the military coupe in September 1973.
In 2008, it was announced that Nyqvist was chosen to star as Mikael Blomkvist of the literary phenomenon, the Millennium Trilogy written by Stieg Larsson. It was long speculated by Scandinavian tabloids that fellow Swedish actor, Mikael Persbrandt could be chosen for the role of Blomkvist until Niels Arden Oplev claimed that 'he would not have been right for the role.' Oplev needed 'a humanist with his heart in the right place, a Swedish teddy bear whom women would feel safe in his arms...a man who respects women, regardless of what type they are.' Nyqvist's capabilities as an actor and his public persona scored him the role.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) and its sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009) were released in 2009 throughout Europe and in the following year, throughout the rest of the world. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has garnered international critical acclaim. Oplev, Noomi Rapace (who starred as Lisbeth Salander, female protagonist of the trilogy) and Nyqvist all gained international recognition. Nyqvist said that his role as Blomkvist 'put me on the map internationally.' As a result he starred in two major Hollywood action movies as the leading villain: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) as Hendricks, and John Wick (2014) as Tarasov. He made other movies in English, and continued to work in Swedish language projects.
He appeared in two films based on novels by well-known Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell, Kennedy's Brain (2010) and The Man from Beijing (2011). There was speculation and talk from Mankell that Nyqvist would be his first choice to play Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, who was assassinated in 1986, but that project never materialized. Instead, one of his final appearances was as a man who was the diametric opposite of Palme: he played Hendrik Verwoed, the architect of apartheid in South Africa, in Madiba (2017).
Michael Nyqvist was diagnosed with lung cancer, and he passed away of the disease in Stockholm in June 2017, aged 56.
He was married to set designer, Catharina Ehrnrooth and had two children Ellen (born in 1991) and Arthur (born in 1996). - Actor
- Soundtrack
Thomas W. Gabrielsson was born on 29 June 1963 in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is an actor, known for A Royal Affair (2012), The Last Kingdom (2015) and Arn: The Knight Templar (2007).- Actor
- Director
Yankovsky was named best actor in a 1984 reader poll by Soviet Screen for his role in "In Love Because He Wants to Be." He was awarded the State Prize in 1987 for his role in "Flying Asleep and Awake." In 1989 he received the Vasiliev State Prize for his role in "The Kreutzer Sonata." Yakovsky was given the lifetime achievement award at the 1983 All-Union Film Festival. He won the best actor NIKA in 1991, and in the same year was named People's Artist of the Soviet Union. Yankovsky was born in Kazakhstan and studied at the Slonov Theater Academy in Saratov. In 1965 he joined the Saratov Drama Theater, moving to Moscow's Lenkom Theater in 1973. He has presided over the Kinotavr Russian Open Film Festival since 1993.- Actor
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Karel Roden is an internationally known actor who was most recently seen in the United States in director Jaume Collet-Serra's "Orphan," starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, and in Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla," opposite Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson and Thandie Newton. His work can also be seen in such films as the hit comedy "Mr. Bean's Vacation," starring Rowan Atkinson; Wayne Kramer's "Running Scared," opposite Paul Walker and Vera Farmiga; Paul Greengrass' wildly successful "The Bourne Supremacy," the second film in the franchise starring Matt Damon; Guillermo del Toro's comics-based action thrillers "Hellboy" and "Blade II"; "Bulletproof Monk," starring Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott; and "15 Minutes," starring Robert De Niro and Edward Burns.
Roden has been nominated several times and recently won a prestigious Czech Lion Award for Best Actor for his work in the film "Guard No. 47," produced in his native country, the Czech Republic. He has acted in numerous Czech films, including "Jménem krále"; "The Eye"; "Holka Ferrari Dino"; "Bathory"; "Little Girl Blue"; "Bestiar"; "Vaterland - Lovecký deník"; and "Wild Flowers." Roden has also acted in a variety of films produced throughout Europe, including France's "Largo Winch," from director Jérôme Salle and starring Kristin Scott Thomas; Spain's "The Abandoned," Poland's "Summer Love"; and the UK's "Shut Up and Shoot Me" and "The Last Drop." He appeared as himself in Jan Nemec's documentary "Late Night Talks with Mother."
On the small screen, Roden has appeared in the US series "The Philanthropist," the UK series "MI-5" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel," and in countless Czech productions, including the series "Trapasy" and the telepic "A Christmas Tale."
A graduate of the Prague Dramatic Academy of Fine Arts, Roden hails from a long tradition of Czech actors: his younger brother, Marian, is also an actor, and both men followed in the footsteps of their father and grandfather. Roden's upcoming films include the horror thriller "Andrassy Street 60.," opposite Talia Shire and Barry Corbin; the German period drama "Habermann"; and "Alois Nebel," an animated feature from the Czech Republic.- Actor
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Blond, blue-eyed, tall and handsome Dutch actor Rutger Hauer enjoyed an international reputation for playing everything from romantic leads to action heroes to sinister villains. Hauer was born in Breukelen, a Dutch town and former municipality in the province of Utrecht.
He was the son of Teunke Hauer (née Mellema) and Arend Hauer, actors who operated an acting school. As his parents were often touring, he and his three sisters were raised by a nanny. A bit of a rebel during his childhood, he chafed at the rules and rigors of school and was often getting into mischief. His grandfather had been the captain of a schooner and at age fifteen, Hauer ran away to work on a freighter for a year. Like his great-grandfather, Hauer was color-blind, which prevented him from furthering his career as a sailor.
Upon his return he attended night school and started working in the construction industry. When he again bombed at school, his parents enrolled him in drama classes. An amateur poet, he spent most of his time writing poetry and hanging out in Amsterdam coffee houses instead of studying. He was expelled for poor attendance and afterward spent a brief period in the Dutch navy.
Deciding he didn't like military life, Hauer honed his acting skills trying to convince his superiors he was mentally unfit and was sent to a special home for psych patients. It was an unpleasant place, but Hauer remained there until he had convinced his ranking officers that the military really did not need him.- Actor
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Burghart Klaußner was born on 13 September 1949 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor and producer, known for The Edukators (2004), The White Ribbon (2009) and The People Vs. Fritz Bauer (2015). He is married to Jenny. They have two children.- Joachim Paul Assböck was born on 26 October 1965 in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany. He is an actor, known for Schindler's List (1993), Equilibrium (2002) and The Pianist (2002).
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Alexander Fehling was born on 29 March 1981 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor and director, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Labyrinth of Lies (2014) and Homeland (2011).- Dietmar Bär was born on 5 February 1961 in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany. He is an actor, known for Tatort (1970), Kehrtwende (2011) and Ärzte (1994). He has been married to Maren Geißler since 15 April 2009.
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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.- Florian Stetter was born in Munich on August 2, 1977 and lived in Regensburg until the age of 18. In 1998, he began training as an actor at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich. Stetter then worked on various German, Austrian and Swiss stages (including the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Schauspielhaus Zürich and the Salzburg Festival). Stetter made his film debut in 1997 as David in Philip Gröning's "Lamour" (Locarno 2000), for which he was immediately awarded the Max Ophüls Prize. Since then, he has taken on roles in numerous film and television productions. Among others, he appeared in Dominik Graf's Grimme Prize-winning television film "Die Freunde der Freunde" and in Marc Rothemund's Oscar-nominated "Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage". He was also on screen as Reinhold Messner in "Nanga Parbat" directed by award winning director Joseph Vilsmaier and as Friedrich Schiller in the internationally acclaimed, multi award winning production "Beloved Sisters" directed by outstanding director Dominik Graf. Stetter was nominated for an International Emmy in 2016 for his performance in "Naked Among Wolves". In 2022 he starred next to Petra Schmidt-Schaller in the highly acclaimed mini-series "Ein Schritt zum Abgrund", the german remake of the BBC award winning show "Doctor Foster". In 2023 Stetter starred next to Laura Tonke in the miniseries "Sexuell Verfügbar" directed by Ulrike Koffler, and in the international feature film "Maysoon" directed by Nancy Biniadaki in one of the leading roles.
He lives with his two children in Berlin. - Actor
- Producer
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Moritz Bleibtreu is a German actor born on August 13, 1971 in Munich growing up in Hamburg. He first appears in children's television series Neues aus Uhlenbusch (1977) at the age of six. His breakthrough was the role called "Abdul" in the movie Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997). He also became internationally known for his work on Run Lola Run (1998), The Experiment (2001) and World War Z (2013). In Germany, He is well known for the classic stoner-movie called Lammbock (2001) in which he plays the leading role. He speaks fluent German, English, French and Italian and is the son of Austrian actors Hans Brenner and Monica Bleibtreu.- Actor
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Michael Gwisdek was born on 14 January 1942 in Weissensee, Berlin, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008), Good Bye Lenin! (2003) and Treffen in Travers (1988). He was married to Gabriela Gwisdek and Corinna Harfouch. He died on 22 September 2020 in Berlin, Germany.- 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.
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Volker Bruch was born on 9 March 1980 in Munich, Germany. He is an actor, known for The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008), The Reader (2008) and Babylon Berlin (2017).- Actor
- Producer
- Cinematographer
Tobias Santelmann is a Norwegian actor who was born in Freiburg, Germany. His family moved to Norway when he was one year old. He grew up in the far south of Norway (Lindesnes) and moved to Oslo when he was 16 years old.
Tobias Santelmann graduated from The Oslo National Academy of Dramatic Arts (KHiO) in 2006. Since graduating he has been employed at The Norwegian Theatre in Oslo (Det Norske Teatret). During his years at the theatre he has played many different roles, such as Yang Sun in "The Good Person of Szechwan" (Brecht), K in "The Castle" (Kafka), Torvald Helmer in "Nora" (Ibsen) and Nick in "The Woods" (Mamet).
In addition to his stage work, Tobias has in the past year starred in movies like Kon Tiki, Jag Etter Vind, Flukt and Jeg Er Din.- August Wittgenstein was born on 22 January 1981 in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany. He is an actor, known for The Crown (2016), Das Boot (2018) and Ku'damm 56 (2016).
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- Soundtrack
Appealing actor Romain Duris is the exact example of those who arrived in the movie industry by chance, and to stardom without really desiring it. Discovered by a casting director while he was waiting in front of a high school in Paris, he was offered a role. Between popular successes such as Good Old Daze (1994), Dobermann (1997), Tom Thumb (2001), The Spanish Apartment (2002) or Arsène Lupin (2004), and independent films like Seventeen Times Cécile Cassard (2002), Exils (2004), The Crazy Stranger (1997), Being Light (2001), Déjà mort (1998) or When the Cat's Away (1996), Duris proves to be versatile enough to be credible as a bandit, as a homosexual, or simply as a French student in the streets of Barcelona. The consecration has been The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005); now Duris is seen as an excellent and touching actor by the critics and by the audience.- Actor
- Producer
- Music Department
Javier Bardem belongs to a family of actors that have been working on films since the early days of Spanish cinema.
He was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, to actress Pilar Bardem (María del Pilar Bardem Muñoz) and businessman José Carlos Encinas Doussinague. His maternal grandparents were actors Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, and his uncle is screenwriter Juan Antonio Bardem. He got his start in the family business, at age six, when he appeared in his first feature, "El picaro" (1974) (A.K.A. The Scoundrel). During his teenage years, he acted in several TV series, played rugby for the Spanish National Team, and toured the country with an independent theatrical group. Javier's early film role as a sexy stud in the black comedy, Jamón, Jamón (1992) (aka Ham Ham) propelled him to instant popularity and threatened to typecast him as nothing more than a brawny sex symbol. Determined to avert a beefcake image, he refused similar subsequent roles and has gone on to win acclaim for his ability to appear almost unrecognizable from film to film. With over 25 movies and numerous awards under his belt, it is Javier's stirring, passionate performance as the persecuted Cuban writer, Reynaldo Arenas, in Before Night Falls (2000) that will long be remembered as his breakthrough role. He received five Best Actor awards and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal.- Actor
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Florian Lukas was born on 16 March 1973 in East Berlin, East Germany. He is an actor and producer, known for Good Bye Lenin! (2003), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The Weissensee Saga (2010).- Bruno Wolkowitch was born on 10 May 1961 in Paris, France. He is an actor, known for The Tourist (2010), Spin (2012) and P.J. (1997).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
François Cluzet was born on 21 September 1955 in Paris, France. He is an actor, known for The Intouchables (2011), Tell No One (2006) and French Kiss (1995). He has been married to Narjiss Slaoui-Falcoz since 2011. He was previously married to Chantal Perrin.- Lorenzo Richelmy was born on 25 March 1990 in La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. He is an actor, known for Marco Polo (2014), Rainbow: A Private Affair (2017) and The Girl in the Fog (2017).
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- Producer
- Director
Gérard Depardieu was born in Châteauroux, Indre, France, to Anne Jeanne Josèphe (Marillier) and René Maxime Lionel Depardieu, who was a metal worker and fireman. Young delinquent and wanderer in the past, Depardieu started his acting career at the small traveling theatre "Café de la Gare", along with Patrick Dewaere and Miou-Miou. After minor roles in cinema, at last, he got his chance in Bertrand Blier's Going Places (1974). That film established a new type of hero in the French cinema and the actor's popularity grew enormously. Later, he diversified his screen image and became the leading French actor of the 80s and 90s. He was twice awarded a César as Best Actor for The Last Metro (1980) and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), also received an Oscar nomination for "Cyrano" and a number of awards at international film festivals. In 1996, he was distinguished by the highest French title of "Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur". He married Elisabeth Depardieu in 1971, and they divorced in 1996; she appeared with him in Jean de Florette (1986) and Manon of the Spring (1986); their children Guillaume Depardieu and Julie Depardieu are both actors.- Grégory Fitoussi was born on 13 August 1976 in Paris, France. He is an actor, known for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), Hostile (2017) and World War Z (2013).
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Fabrice Luchini was born on 1 November 1951 in Paris, France. He is an actor and writer, known for In the House (2012), Molière (2007) and Beaumarchais the Scoundrel (1996).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Pierfrancesco Favino was born on 24 August 1969 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and producer, known for World War Z (2013), Rush (2013) and Angels & Demons (2009).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Mathieu Kassovitz was born on 3 August 1967 in Paris, France. He is an actor and director, known for Amélie (2001), La haine (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997).- Actor
- Writer
César Domboy was born on 10 March 1990 in France. He is an actor and writer, known for The Walk (2015), The Princess of Montpensier (2010) and Outlander (2014).- Christian Berkel was born on 28 October 1957 in West Berlin, West Germany. He is an actor, known for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Downfall (2004) and Valkyrie (2008). He has been married to Andrea Sawatzki since 17 December 2011. They have two children.
- During his school years he was enthusiastic about artistry and gymnastics. His athletic skills helped him land a role in the musical "Can Can" in 1978, which also sparked his interest in acting. After finishing school, Heino Ferch devoted himself to his acting training at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In addition to the classical acting courses, he was also trained here in singing, ballet and tap dancing. He completed his training in 1987 and was immediately hired by the Freie Volksbühne Berlin, whose ensemble he was a member of until 1990. Also in 1987 he had his first screen role in the cinema production "Schloss Königswald".
After his time at the Freie Volksbühne, Ferch went to the Berlin Schillertheater in 1990, where he remained loyal until 1994. During this time he had several guest appearances at the Scala in Milan, at the Salzburg Festival and at the Burgtheater in Vienna. He quickly attracted attention both through his performance in the theater and in film. He received particular praise for his portrayal of Obersturmbandführer Raufeisen in "Unhold" (1996) and for his portrayal of Gestapo leader Klaus Barbie in "Lucie Aubrac" (1996). His role as Roman Cycowski in the hit production "Comedian Harmonists" helped him achieve widespread popularity in 1997. Heino Ferch became one of the most sought-after German actors and several successful productions followed, both for cinema and television.
His most successful TV production to date was "The Miracle of Lengede" in 2003, which was awarded a "Bambi" as "TV Event of the Year". Ferch left a lasting impression as Albert Speer in "Downfall," in which he played Lara alongside Bruno Ganz and Alexandra Maria. "Ghetto," another Third Reich drama, was released in German cinemas in 2006. However, the production did not achieve the desired success and also failed to convince the critics. Ferch was in a relationship with the actress Susanne von Borsody for several years. He has been married to the rider Marie-Jeanette Steinle since August 2005. - Maximilian Brückner was born on 10 January 1979 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor, known for Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005), Guys and Balls (2004) and War Horse (2011). He has been married to Magdalena Staudacher since 2013. They have two children.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Niels-Bruno Schmidt was born in 1975 in Berlin, Germany. He is an actor, known for The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008), Pandorum (2009) and Schicksalsspiel (1993).- Hans Werner Meyer was born on 14 April 1964 in Hamburg, Germany. He is an actor, known for The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008), Die Cleveren (1998) and Adieu Paris (2013). He is married to Jacqueline Macaulay. They have three children.
- Actor
- Writer
Götz Otto was born on 15 October 1967 in Dietzenbach, Hesse, Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for Iron Sky (2012), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and Cloud Atlas (2012). He is married to Sabine. They have four children.- Actor
- Director
Pyotr Mamonov was born on 14 April 1951 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was an actor and director, known for The Island (2006), Shapito-shou: Lyubov i druzhba (2011) and Taxi Blues (1990). He was married to Olga Ivanovna Mamonova and ???. He died on 15 July 2021 in Kommunarka, Moscow, Russia.- Peter Simonischek was born on 6 August 1946 in Graz, Austria. He was an actor, known for Toni Erdmann (2016), The Interpreter (2018) and Sapphire Blue (2014). He was married to Brigitte Karner and Charlotte Schwab. He died on 29 May 2023 in Vienna, Austria.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Denis Podalydès was born on 22 April 1963 in Versailles, France. He is an actor and writer, known for The Conquest (2011), French Tech (2020) and Jeanne and the Perfect Guy (1998).- Romann Berrux was born on 13 August 2001 in France. He is an actor, known for Outlander (2014), The Inside Game (2018) and Joséphine, ange gardien (1997).
- Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is an Icelandic professional strongman, actor, and former professional basketball player.
On 31 January 2015, Björnsson beat a 1000-year-old record set by Orm Storolfsson at the World's Strongest Viking competition in Norway, where he carried a 10 m (33 ft) long 650 kg (1,430 lb) log for five steps
Hafþór was cast as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane for the fourth season of the HBO series 'Game of Thrones (2011)' in August 2013. This was his first main acting role, and the third person to depict the character after Conan Stevens played the role in season 1 and Ian Whyte in season 2. He became the first actor to portray Clegane in more than one season with his appearances in season 5. - Actor
- Writer
- Producer
A second-generation Norwegian actor, Kristofer Hivju was born on 7 December, 1978 in Oslo. He is the son of actors Lieselotte Holmene and Erik Hivju, a prominent character actor who appeared with his son in the short film Flax, where Kristofer shared screenwriting credit with director Bård Ivar Engelsås.
Kristofer made his American Film debut in Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s 2011 prequel of John Carpenter's The Thing (2011). Next he was seen in M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth (2013) but he is most recognizable as fan favorite Tormund Giantsbane on HBO's Game of Thrones (2011).- Actor
- Producer
Basil was born in Zurich, Switzerland on January the 9th 1993 and started out by taking singing lessons at the Zurich Music Conservatory before embarking on a two year course at the European Actor School. Having started his career in a German comedy film 'Let's Get a Divorce' in 2009, for two years he was a leading actor in Swiss youth sitcom 'Best Friends' before dividing his time between Zurich and London from where he graduated with an acting degree from the Giles Foreman Centre for Acting in 2013. In 2016 he made his British television debut in costume drama 'Victoria'.- Actor
- Director
Ulrich Mühe was born on 20 June 1953 in Grimma, East Germany. He was an actor and director, known for The Lives of Others (2006), Funny Games (1997) and Der letzte Zeuge (1998). He was married to Susanne Lothar, Jenny Gröllmann and Annegret Hahn. He died on 22 July 2007 in Walbeck, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.- Fabian Hinrichs was born in 1974 in Hamburg, West Germany. He is an actor, known for Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005), Tatort (1970) and Divided We Stand (2022).
- Axel Milberg was born on 1 August 1956 in Kiel, Germany. He is an actor, known for Tatort (1970), Doktor Martin (2007) and Hannah Arendt (2012). He has been married to Judith Betzler since January 2004. They have one child.
- David Rott was born on 1 September 1977 in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany. He is an actor, known for Der Mann mit dem Fagott (2011), Ganz und gar (2003) and Guys and Balls (2004). He is married to Elena. They have five children.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Detlef Bothe was born on 24 July 1965 in Brunswick, Lower Saxony, Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for Anthropoid (2016), Feiertag (2002) and Spectre (2015).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Walther Reyer was born on 4 September 1922 in Hall, Tyrol, Austria. He was an actor, known for Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin (1956), The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959) and Journey to the Lost City (1960). He was married to Angela, Erika Remberg, Gretl Elb and Claudia. He died on 5 September 1999 in Innsbruck, Austria.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
The son of conductor Karl Böhm began his acting career on stage in Germany. In Europe, he is still best known for his role in the Sissi (1955) series, although he later starred in several movies of cult director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. After 1981, he was exclusively involved in charitable work in Ethiopia.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
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 Erdmann, for which she won among others the European Film Award and the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress.- Saskia Vester was born on 24 July 1959 in Saarbrücken, West Germany. She is an actress, known for KDD - Kriminaldauerdienst (2007), Die Landärztin (2005) and Großstadtrevier (1986). She is married to Robert Flörke. They have two children.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
- Music Department
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 kudos portraying a cynical, manipulative singer/hooker who sets her sights on an unsuspecting town politician played by Armin Mueller-Stahl. Following Fassbinder's sudden death in 1982, Barbara was gloriously displayed in a couple of stark, brilliant, politically-motivated films by director Margarethe von Trotta. In Marianne & Juliane (1981), Barbara won both the Venice Film Festival and German Film awards and as _Rosa Luxemburg (1986)_ , she copped the Cannes Film Festival award. A number of international productions, notably Lars von Trier's Europa (1991), brought Barbara to the attention of Hollywood. Although not well known here by name, this fascinating figure has added her exotic allure to a number of American films including The Sicilian (1987), M. Butterfly (1993), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Cradle Will Rock (1999) and the just-completed Romance & Cigarettes (2005), which was written and directed by John Turturro. Barbara started up a second career as a concert vocalist in recent years, performing works by such classical composers as Arnold Schönberg, among others.- 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' "Antigone" and other classic stage roles. After she had already received the Max Reinhardt Prize in 2000 for her participation in the Berlin production of "The Persians", Jentsch was named the best young actress by the magazine "Theater aktuell" in 2002 for her acting achievements on stage.
In the meantime, Jentsch had already made her cinema debut in Judith Kennel's successful film "Angry Kisses" in 2000. In addition to her theater work, she was also featured in several television productions such as an episode of "Praxis Bülowbogen" (2000), in the film "And the Bride knew of nothing" (2002) and in the "Tatort" episode "Bitteres Brot" ( 2003). The actress continued to shine in the cinema in "Julietta" (2001) by Christoph Stark and in Sven Taddicken's "My Brother, the Vampire" (2001). She then appeared in the internationally acclaimed Hitler film "Downfall" (2004) under the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel. Jentsch then played the leading role in Hans Weingartner's "The Fat Years Are Over" (2004), for which she won the Bavarian Film Prize for Best Young Actress.
This was followed by another leading role in "Schneeland" (2004) by Hans Wilhelm Geißendörfer. Under the direction of Marc Rothemund, Jentsch continued to play the leading role in the semi-documentary drama "Sophie Scholl - The Last Days" (2005), which was shown for the first time at the 55th Berlinale in February 2005 as one of the three German competition entries. For her performance in this film, Jentsch was awarded the "Silver Bear" as best actress. At the 55th German Film Awards in July 2005, Jentsch received the award for Best Leading Role. A little later, "Sophie Scholl" was nominated for an Oscar as a German contribution. - Franziska Weisz was born on 4 May 1980 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Hotel (2004), Mutig in die neuen Zeiten (2005) and Tage, die es nicht gab (2022). She has been married to Felix Herzogenrath since 2015.
- Karolina Lodyga was born on 13 April 1984 in Gdynia, Pomorskie, Poland. She is an actress, known for Anna (2008), 4 Blocks (2017) and Das ist ja das Leben selbst! (2012).
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
The French actress Ludivine Sagnier was born on July 3, 1979 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, in France's Yvelines department. Ludivine studied acting as a young girl and had made her movie debut at the age 10 in Les maris, les femmes, les amants (1989). She has established her reputation as one of the brightest young stars in French and international cinema in her collaborations with French filmmaker François Ozon, starting with Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000) (based on a screenplay by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 8 Women (2002) and in Swimming Pool (2003). For her performance in 8 Women (2002), she won a Cesar Award nomination (the French equivalent of the Oscar) and the Romy Schneider Award that is given each year to a promising young French actress. In that film, Sagnier proved her acting prowess by distinguishing herself in a stellar cast that included the legendary actresses Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert as well as Emmanuelle Béart and Fanny Ardant. Along with these grand ladies of the French cinema, Sagnier won the Best Actress Award from the European Film Academy Award and the Silver Bear Award at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival.
Swimming Pool (2003) represented her crossover into English-language cinema. (Sagnier played her first English language role in Toothache (2006).) Marketed in the U.S. with a comely shot of Sagnier sunbathing alongside a pool, Ozon's film became one of the biggest-grossing foreign movies in the U.S. during 2003. So far, she has turned down large monetary offers to appear in American films as the foreign girlfriend of young American superstars, as she remains committed to French cinema.
Sagnier became a mother on March 25, 2005, when she gave birth to a daughter named Bonnie by her boyfriend, French actor Nicolas Duvauchelle.- Actress
- Producer
- Talent Agent
Catherine Fabienne Deneuve was born October 22, 1943 in Paris, France, to actor parents Renée Simonot and Maurice Dorléac. She made her movie debut in 1957, when she was barely a teenager and continued with small parts in minor films, until Roger Vadim gave her a meatier role in Vice and Virtue (1963). Her breakthrough came with the excellent musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), in which she gave an unforgettable performance as a romantic middle-class girl who falls in love with a young soldier but gets imprisoned in a loveless marriage with another man; the director was the gifted Jacques Demy, who also cast Deneuve in the less successful The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). She then played a schizophrenic killer in Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965) and a married woman who works as a part-time prostitute every afternoon in Luis Buñuel's masterpiece Belle de Jour (1967). She also worked with Buñuel in Tristana (1970) and gave a great performance for François Truffaut in Mississippi Mermaid (1969), a kind of apotheosis of her "frigid femme fatale" persona. In the seventies she didn't find parts of that caliber, but her magnificent work in Truffaut's The Last Metro (1980) as a stage actress in Nazi-occupied Paris revived her career. She was also very good in the epic drama Indochine (1992), for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination (Best Actress). Although the elegant and always radiant Deneuve has never appeared on stage, she is universally hailed as one of the "grandes dames" of French cinema, joining a list that includes such illustrious talents as Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Adjani and the younger Juliette Binoche.- Actress
- Art Department
- Additional Crew
Juliette Binoche was born in Paris, France, to Monique Yvette Stalens, a director, teacher, and actress, and Jean-Marie Binoche, a sculptor, director, and actor. Her mother was born in Czestochowa, Poland, of French, Walloon Belgian, and Polish descent, while her father is French. Juliette was only 23 when she first attracted the attention of international film critics with The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988). Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times film critic with an international following of his books on film and TV reviews, wrote that she was "almost ethereal in her beauty and innocence". That innocence was gone by the time Binoche completed Louis Malle's Damage (1992) (aka "Fatale"). In an interview after the film was released, Binoche said: "Malle was trying direct and wanted something more sophisticated". A year later, Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors: Blue (1993) was added to her film credits. After a sabbatical from film-making to become a mother in 1994, Binoche was selected as the heroine of France's most expensive ($35 million) movie ever: The Horseman on the Roof (1995). More recently, she has made The English Patient (1996), for which she won an Oscar for 'Best supporting actress' and Chocolat (2000).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Dominique Blanc was born on 25 April 1956 in Lyon, Rhône, France. She is an actress and director, known for Indochine (1992), Queen Margot (1994) and Stand-by (2000).- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Laura Morante was born on 21 August 1956 in Santa Fiora, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Cherry on the Cake (2012), The Son's Room (2001) and Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981). She has been married to Francesco Giammatteo since 3 October 2004. She was previously married to Georges Claisse and Daniele Costantini.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Director
Cristiana Capotondi was born on 13 September 1980 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and director, known for The Worst Week of My Life (2011), Come tu mi vuoi (2007) and Notte prima degli esami (2006).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Oona Chaplin is a Spanish actress. Her mother is Geraldine Chaplin. She is also the granddaughter of English film actor Charlie Chaplin, and great-granddaughter of American playwright Eugene O'Neill. She is best known for playing Talisa Maegyr in the HBO TV series Game of Thrones and Zilpha Geary in Taboo.
She was named after her maternal grandmother, Oona O'Neill Chaplin.
Her acting debut was in the TV Series Spooks.- Actress
- Writer
MyAnna Buring was born 22 September 1979, in Sundsvall, Sweden, as MyAnna Margaretha Buring Rantapää, but grew up in the Middle East. When she turned 16, she moved to Great Britain. She attended secondary school at the American British Academy in Muscat, Oman, and graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2004. She is also the associate director of the MahWaff Theatre Company.- Chulpan Khamatova is an internationally acclaimed film and stage actress and well-known philanthropist who left Moscow following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and took permanent residency in Latvia.
She was born Chulpan Nailyevna Khamatova on October 1, 1975, in Kazan, Tatarstan Republic, Russia. She is an ethnic Tatar. Her name means "morning star" in Tatar language. Her mother, Marina Galimullovna Khamatova, was an engineer. Her father Nail Khamatov, was also an engineer and a managing director of a firm in Tatarstan, Russia.
Young Khamatova was a professionally trained figure skater. She suffered from a back trauma after a fall on ice; after that she quit figure skating, but continued roller-skating. She also had a gift for mathematics and studied at the prestigious School of Mathematics in Kazan. Then she studied for one semester at business school of Kazan University, but became bored and decided to change her career and entered the Kazan School of Theatre. From 1995-1998 Khamatova studied acting at the State Institute of Theatrical Arts (GITIS) in Moscow, and graduated from the class of Aleksei Borodin in 1998 as an actress.
Khamatova was a third year student at GITIS when she made her film debut in the role of Katya in Vadim Abdrashitov's film Vremya tantsora (1998). She won critical acclaim in Russia after playing a female lead in Country of the Deaf (1998). Soon she gained international attention after starring as Mamlakat opposite Moritz Bleibtreu in Luna Papa (1999) by director Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov, which became a "quiet masterpiece" in Germany as well as in Russia. Khamatova's effortless style shines in a variety of her film characters ranging from farcical Lara in Good Bye Lenin! (2003), to charming seductress Nelly in 72 metra (2004), to passionate and sophisticated Lara in Doctor Zhivago, a Russian TV-series based on the eponymous book by Boris Pasternak.
Chulpan Khamatova became one of the most celebrated young actresses of Russian theatre and cinema. She was designated Honorable artist of Russia. In 2004 Khamatova was awarded State Prize by Russian president Vladimir Putin for her achievements in acting. From 1998 to 2022, she was a permanent member of Sovremennik Theatre in Moscow under directorship of Galina Volchek and other directors. Her stage and film partners has been such actors as Sergey Shakurov, Dina Korzun, Valentin Gaft, Inna Churikova, Sergey Garmash, Marina Neyolova, Elena Yakovleva and other notable Russian actors. From 2008 to 2022, Khamatova collaborated with the Theatre of Nations in Moscow. From 1995 to 2002 Khamatova was married to her class-mate, a fellow actor Ivan Volkov, their daughter, named Arina, was born in 2002. She was in relationship with a Russian émigré, actor-dancer Aleksei Dubinin with whom she has daughter Alina, born in 2003. Her third daughter, Iya Shein, was born in 2010. Besides her native Russian and Tatar, Chulpan Khamatova is fluent in German and English.
In 2006, Khamatova was a member of the six-person jury at the 63rd Venice Film Festival headed by French actress Catherine Deneuve. Chulpan Khamatova has been one of the leading figures for charitable causes in Russia. Since 2005 Khamatova and her fellow Russian actors started a charitable initiative "Podari Zhizn" for the benefit of children suffering from leukemia.
In March 2022, Chulpan Khamatova with her three daughters left Russia and gave an interview saying that she has gone into exile in Latvia, because of Russian war in Ukraine. Khamatova bought a house and settled in a suburb of Riga, the capital city of Latvia. In March 2022, Chulpan Khamatova became a permanent member of the troupe at the New Riga Theatre upon invitation from Alvis Hermanis, artistic director of the company. She also made appearances on Latvian TV and made public speeches at anti-war protests in Riga, Latvia. Khamatova is learning Latvian, her three daughters are also adjusting to the new life in Europe. - Actress
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Heiða Rún Sigurðardóttir known by her stage name Heida Reed, is an Icelandic actress and model. She is known for playing parts in One Day, Jo (2013), Silent Witness (2014) and the BBC drama Poldark. Reed was born in Iceland, the middle of three children of a music teacher father and a dental hygienist mother. She grew up in Breiðholt, Reykjavík, and attended Ölduselsskóli. Aged 18, she was recruited by an Icelandic modeling agency, and moved to Mumbai to work as a model in India for two years. When she was 19/20, she settled in London, where she studied drama at Drama Centre London, graduating in 2010.- Actress
- Producer
Maria Simon was born on 6 February 1976 in Leipzig, German Democratic Republic [nox Saxony, Germany]. She is an actress and producer, known for Good Bye Lenin! (2003), Portrait of a Married Couple (2002) and Kleine Schwester (2004). She was previously married to Bernd Michael Lade.- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Zuzana Fialová was born on 17 May 1974 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia [now Slovakia]. She is an actress and writer, known for Kriminálka Staré Mesto (2010), Ordinácia v ruzovej záhrade (2007) and Aftermath (2012).- Actress
- Soundtrack
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. She was nominated as Europe's best actress on her role in "Mostly Martha". The film was later remade with Catherine Zeta-Jones playing her role.
Her films were twice selected as Germany's entry to the Oscars. In 2007, "The Lives of Others" with her in the lead role won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2009 she again had the title role in Germany's Oscar contender "The Baader Meinhof Complex", also nominated for the Golden Globes.
Martina Gedeck resides in Berlin, Germany.- Actress
- Director
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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) (Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series). She is well known for acting in Nobody Loves Me (1994), Aimee & Jaguar (1999), The Giraffe (1998), Deutschland 83 (2015), Deutschland 86 (2018) and Deutschland 89 (2020).- Actress
- Writer
Daniela Holtz was born in 1977 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is an actress and writer, known for Victoria (2016), De man uit Rome (2023) and Heart Bargain (2015).- Henriette Confurius was born on 5 February 1991 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Die Wölfe (2009), Mein erstes Wunder (2002) and Police Call 110 (1971).
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Nina Yndis is an actress and producer, known for Peaky Blinders (2013), Call the Midwife (2012) and X Company (2015).
Nina is a very versatile actress and producer with a Polish mother and Norwegian father, currently working across borders with Norway and the United Kingdom. She started doing theatre at a very young age and landed her first TV credit in the Norwegian series Spesialenheten. Since then her career has excelled in theatre, TV, and film. She spent 3 years in drama-school at the renowned Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and moved to London after. She quickly landed a part in the incredibly popular series PEAKY BLINDERS, then moved on to play Else Dahl in the UK THEATRE AWARD-WINNING play NARVIK, by Lizzie Nunnery that was awarded Best New Play in 2017. She then got selected amongst exiting new talent in London to star alongside Idris Elba in FIVE BY FIVE that went on to be selected for film festivals around the world. She starred in the incredibly popular British series CALL THE MIDWIFE playing Magda Kovacs who turns out to be a bit of a troublemaker. Furthermore, Nina is an incredibly talented dubbing actress and has been dubbing multiple audiobooks, videogames, and animation.
As a producer, Nina is the co-founder of the company Certain Light Films.- Actress
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Born in Naples in 1954, Licia Maglietta graduated in Architecture in 1981. Her first role on stage came the following year in 'Tango glaciale' by Mario Martone, the director who would also cast her in her film debut over a decade later: Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician (1992). The two worked together in several projects both on stage and in films but Maglietta's popularity among the Italian audience is mostly due to her collaborations with director Silvio Soldini: Le acrobate (1997), Bread and Tulips (2000) and Agata and the Storm (2004). She also worked in several TV mini-series such as In Treatment (2013).- Katrin Sass was born on 23 October 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.
- Actress
- Casting Director
Lucie Aron was born in 1990 in Paris, France. She is an actress and casting director, known for Berlin Syndrome (2017), You Are Wanted (2017) and Replace (2017).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Zuzana Bydzovská was born on 10 October 1961 in Most, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for The Country Teacher (2008), Jan Palach (2018) and Gympl (2007).- Actress
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Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, to Emma Augusta "Gusti" (Schweinberger) and Mohammed Adjani. Her father was a Kabyle Algerian, from Iferhounène, and her mother was a Bavarian German. She grew up speaking German fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theater by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture, Le Petit Bougnat (1970). Adjani has appeared in 30 films since 1970. She holds the record for most César Award for Best Actress (5), which she won for Possession (1981), One Deadly Summer (1983) (aka "One Deadly Summer"), Camille Claudel (1988), Queen Margot (1994) (aka "Queen Margot") and Skirt Day (2008) (aka "Skirt Day"). She was also given a double Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award in 1981. She also received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She performs in French, English, Italian and German. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2010.- Greta Scacchi was born in Milan, Italy, to Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and Luca Scacchi, an Italian art dealer and painter. She grew up in Milan and Sussex, England. In 1975, her mother and second husband moved to Australia, where, after she left school, Greta worked as an Italian interpreter on a ranch. At age 18, she returned to England and trained at the Bristol Old Vic, paying her way through college by working as a model for catalogues. Played small parts as a stage actress before she made her first appearance on British television, then the young film maker Dominik Graf directed her in Das zweite Gesicht (1982). She learned German for this movie. (She also speaks fluent Italian and French.) After Heat and Dust (1983), she played parts in French, Italian and English movies and Australian television, working with the Taviani Brothers, Margareta von Trotta and Diana Kurys. She turned down Hollywood for many years but after appearing in White Mischief (1987) agreed to co-star in Presumed Innocent (1990), Shattered (1991) and The Player (1992).
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One of Europe's most celebrated actresses, Carice van Houten is perhaps best known as 'Melisandre' in the iconic TV show Game of Thrones, a performance for which she has been recognized with an Emmy Award nomination in 2019. Other projects include Paul Verhoeven's award-winning Black Book and Bryan Singer's Valkyrie opposite Tom Cruise and as Melisandre on Game of Thrones. Recent projects include Instinct and Temple, a TV show for Sky opposite Mark Strong, which has been picked up for a second season.
Her Dutch-language feature Love Life, gained her further critical acclaim and broke box office records in her native Holland. Her next film Happy Housewive won her a record breaking 5th Golden Calf at The Netherlands Film Festival and was voted 'Best Dutch Actress of All Time' by the Dutch audience. Other awards include Best Actress for Black Butterflies at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Best Performance award for Instinct at the Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.
Her credits include Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's Intruders and Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate, the Jesse Owens biopic, Race, with Jason Sudekis and Jeremy Irons and voiced a character in The Simpsons. She can also be seen in Brian de Palma's Domino and in Brimstone, opposite Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce and Kit Harrington, and The Glass Room, with Claes Bang. She played a leading role in Halina Reijn's directorial feature debut Instinct, opposite Marwan Kenzari (Aladdin), which won the Variety Piazza Grande Award in Locarno Film Festival 2019. Instinct is the first outing for the Carice and Halina's production banner, Man Up.
Up next is the new Dutch series Red Light, in which she not only plays the lead role but she is also creative producer of the show, together with Halina and their production company Man Up The show is expected to air in Autumn 2020.- Hannah Herzsprung was born on 7 September 1981 in Hamburg, West Germany. She is an actress, known for The Reader (2008), Who Am I (2014) and Four Minutes (2006).
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Isabelle Huppert was born March 16, 1953, in Paris, France, but spent her childhood in Ville d'Avray. Encouraged by her mother Annick Huppert (who was a teacher of English), she followed the Conservatory of Versailles and won an acting prize for her work in Alfred de Musset's "Un caprice". She then studied at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique and followed an illustrious theatrical career, which includes Ivan Turgenev's "A Month in the Country", Euripides' "Medea" (title role) etc. She made her movie debut in Le Prussien (1971) and soon became one of the top actresses of her generation, giving fine performances in important films, like Claude Goretta's The Lacemaker (1977), as a simple-minded girl who falls in love with - and is betrayed by - a student, Jean-Luc Godard's Every Man for Himself (1980), as a prostitute, and Maurice Pialat's Loulou (1980), as an upper-class woman who is physically attracted by a young vagabond. She made an inconsequential US debut in Otto Preminger's Rosebud (1975) before playing a brothel madam in Michael Cimino's disastrous Heaven's Gate (1980), but she fared better in Curtis Hanson's The Bedroom Window (1987) (as an adulteress who witnesses an attack). Huppert has an extremely productive collaboration with Claude Chabrol, who cast her in several movies, including Violette (1978), in which she played a woman who murders her parents, and Story of Women (1988), in which she gave an excellent performance as a shameless abortionist, the last woman to be executed in France. More recent good films include Patricia Mazuy's Saint-Cyr (2000) and Michael Haneke's controversial The Piano Teacher (2001), as a sexually repressed piano teacher.- Miriam Stein was born on 10 May 1988 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for Four Women and a Funeral (2005), Young Goethe in Love (2010) and Generation War (2013).
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Pernilla August started acting as a child, performing in plays at Vår teater and at school. In 1979 she was accepted at the Statens scenskola to study acting professionally. Director Ingmar Bergman took note of her early and cast her as a nanny in his Fanny and Alexander (1982).
In 1982 she got married to author Klas Östergren and started work at the Folkteatern in Gävle, appearing in August Strindberg's A Dreamplay and Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. She returned a few years later to the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm for roles in William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (as Nora).
Until then she hadn't had any bigger experience of television or movies but Ingmar Bergman specifically asked for her to play his mother in the biographical The Best Intentions (1992) By then her marriage was over and she started a relationship with director Bille August whom she married in 1991 - and had her name changed for the second time. He offered her a role in his The House of the Spirits (1993), but due to her pregnancy the role went to Winona Ryder instead.
She has admirably managed an international career despite having three daughters. She is best known for her appearances in films like Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) or I Am Dina (2002).- Emily Cox was born on February 23, 1985 in Vienna, Austria. She is an actress, known for The Last Kingdom (2015), Jerks (2017) and The Fatherless (2011).
You know Emily from her leading role as the female Viking Warrior 'BRIDA' in the epic and highly successful Netflix series 'The Last Kingdom' which is now in its 5th and final season. Emily Cox grew up in Vienna with a British father and an Irish mother, who are both pianists. She now lives in Vienna and in Berlin. As a teenager, she thought that she wanted to become a dancer, but after performing in a play as part of her English classes during her final year in high school, she knew that acting was what she loved and wanted to do. After her graduation, she went on to study acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. In 2008 she was under contract as a stage actor at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna. After that, she continuously worked for German and Austrian TV and cinema. Her most important TV- credits include "JERKS" (the german remake of 'Clovn', which is now in it's fourth season), various 'Tatorts', 'Dutschke', 'Homeland' and 'A new life'. For cinema her most prominent work includes films like 'The Fatherless' by Marie Kreutzer (Berlinale), 'Die Rettung der uns bekannten Welt' and 'Head full of Honey' by Til Schweiger, 'Wuff' by Detlev Buck and 'The silent mountain' by Ernst Gossner. - Actress
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Nive Nielsen launched her career as the frontwoman of the Greenlandic group Nive and The Deer Children. While touring across the world, her namesake band was bestowed numerous awards including the Danish Crown Prince Couple's Stardust Award, Independent Music Award, and even a nomination for the Nordic Music Prize. Nive isn't just another indie rock sensation, though; she has also followed her passion to a career in film and TV.
Her adventurous soul led Nive to pursue education far from her beloved Greenland, spending a year abroad in Spain before attending Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway to participate in its international baccalaureate program. Nive eventually obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and then went on to attain her Master of Arts in Visual Anthropology from Goldsmiths College in the UK.
While studying in Ottawa, Nive's friend and future bandmate Jan de Vroede encouraged her to assuage her boredom by playing the ukulele and writing some songs. Despite never having written or sung before, Nive took it as challenge and came back to Jan after a few weeks to play the song "Room," which later became one of the first songs produced by Nive and The Deer Children. Fronted by Nive, the group debuted with its self-released album Nive Sings! in 2009. The album was a huge success and would go on to achieve gold status in Greenland - where one in 10 people there own it.
The band then toured extensively around the world, beginning with two incredible performances for dignitaries in the Selvstyre, Greenland's self-government, followed by another for the Queen of Denmark. They would then go on to become the first Greenlandic band to participate at the South By Southwest festival, Iceland Airwaves, Eurosonic, and Green Man. Due to the overwhelming success of Nive Sings!, the band landed a deal with Glitterhouse Records for a European release in 2012. Nive and The Deer Children soon returned with its second album, Feet First, originally released in 2016 and followed by extensive tours throughout Europe, North America, Japan, and South Korea. After completing her studies abroad, Nive returned home to work for Greenland National TV and radio as a researcher, segment producer, and, eventually, host. This experience led to roles on several locally produced shows and documentaries, as well as a small part in 2004's The New World starring Colin Farrell. Her music has since been included in several films, most notably Nuummioq, which was featured at Sundance International Film Festival.
Nive's adventurous nature stemmed from her earliest childhood experiences growing up in Greenland. She spent most of her youth in her tiny, snowy hometown of Nuuk. Solace was to be found in old music and worn-out books, being drawn into diaries about arctic exploration, contemporary art, and fishing. She would lose herself in the pages of Reif Larson, Calvin & Hobbs, Jim Harrison, and novels about infinite universes, time, space, and everything in between. Her passion for music was self-nurtured, built off a foundation of whatever records were in her reach. Having consumed music as diverse as her reading, Nive devoured albums by Michael Hurley, Jonathan Richman, Giant Sand, Bill Callahan, and Betty Lavette.
Nive will soon return to the studio with the band to begin work on the follow-up album to Feet First.- Lisa Maria Potthoff was born on 25 July 1978 in West Berlin, West Germany. She is an actress, known for Sarah Kohr (2014), Die Bluthochzeit (2005) and Schwere Jungs (2006). She is married to Thorsten Berg.
- Sibel Kekilli is a German actress of Turkish origin. With her debut in Fatih Akin's movie "Head On" she gained major public attention. The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 2004 and her acting performance received several national and international prizes, among them the highly prestigious German film award Lola for Best Actress.
Since then Kekilli played in several national and international productions like "Eve Dönüs" ("Home coming"), awarded Best Actress at the Antalya Film Festival, aside with Josef Bierbichler and Hanna Schygulla in "Winter Journey" ("Winterreise) or the leading role Umay in Feo Aladags "When We Leave" ("Die Fremde") in 2010 which lead to Best Actress Award at the Tribeca Film Festival and once again the Lola award among others.
Apart from other movie roles, as the very successful comedy "What a man" (2011) directed by Matthias Schweighöfer, she has been investigating in the highly regarded German series "Tatort" since 2010.
She has also become widely known as part of the main cast for her role as Shae in the HBO award-winning series "Game of Thrones" (Season 1 until Season 4). - Anjela Nedyalkova was born on 2 March 1991 in Sofia, Bulgaria. She is an actress, known for T2 Trainspotting (2017), The Paradise Suite (2015) and Avé (2011).
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Birgitte Hjort Sorensen is a Danish actress. She has been nominated for three Robert Awards and one Bodil Award. Born in Hillerød and raised in Birkerød, Sørensen aspired to an acting career after watching the West End production of the musical Chicago while at school. She graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts. Her acting debut was in a minor role in the television series The Eagle in 2005. She followed this by playing Roxie Hart in a Copenhagen production of Chicago, and later on the West End. Sorensen's breakthrough role was as journalist Katrine Fønsmark in the television political drama Borgen (2010-2013, 2022).- Actress
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Johanna Wokalek was born on 3 March 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.- Actress
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Catherine Frot was born on 1 May 1956 in Paris, France. She is an actress and writer, known for Marguerite (2015), Le Dîner de Cons (1998) and Family Resemblances (1996). She has been married to Michel Couvelard since 1987. They have one child.- Florence Pernel was born on 30 June 1962 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Three Colors: Blue (1993), Three Colors: White (1994) and Napoléon (2002). She has been married to Patrick Rotman since July 2005. They have two children.
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Fanny Valette was born on 4 July 1986 in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. She is an actress, known for La petite Jérusalem (2005), Just a Fling (2017) and High Lane (2009).- Mariya Andreeva was born on 12 July 1986 in Kirovograd, Kirovogradskaya oblast, Ukrainskaya SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. She is an actress, known for Lovets snov (2022), Perestroika (2009) and Posledniy vagon: Vesna (2015). She has been married to Anton Khundadze since November 2018. They have one child.
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