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- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jeri Ryan was born Jeri Lynn Zimmerman on February 22, 1968 in Munich, West Germany, to Gerhard Florian Zimmerman, a Master Sergeant in the United States Army, and his wife Sharon, a social worker. She and her older brother Mark grew up on several military bases, including Kansas, Maryland, Hawaii, Georgia and Texas. Finally, at age 11, her father retired from the Army and her family settled down in Paducah, Kentucky. After graduating from Lone Oak High School in 1986, she attended Northwestern University Chicago as a National Merit Scholar. While studying there, she won a number of beauty contests (a.o.- sixth annual Miss Northwestern Alpha Delta Phi Pageant in 1989).
With a B.S. degree in Theatre, she came to Los Angeles, California and since then she has been on several television series and films - including popular series like Matlock (1986), Melrose Place (1992) and Star Trek: Voyager (1995) as well as Dark Skies (1996). Her television experience also includes roles in a variety of telefilms including Nightmare in Columbia County (1991), NBC's In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco (1993), Co-ed Call Girl (1996), The Sentinel (1996), Men Cry Bullets (1998), Dracula 2000 (2000), The Last Man (2000) and Down with Love (2003). Jeri Ryan resides in an area of Los Angeles, California with her husband chef Christophe Eme, her son Alex and daughter Gisele.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has won numerous national and international awards for his poetic feature and documentary films.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Flula Borg was born and raised in Erlangen, Germany, where he started his performance career as a traditional Bavarian Schuhplattler dancer. He transitioned quickly into becoming a techno DJ, and after being voted the 3rd Sexiest North Bavarian Male, he worked up the nerve to submit for the Scion National Hypeman Contest, which he unintentionally won. Encouraged by his unexpected good fortune, he relocated to Los Angeles, California, to continue growing his music and acting career. To grab Hollywood's attention, Flula turned to YouTube to share his original songs, creative remixes, and late night vlogs about American culture and language, quickly amassing over 750k subscribers, 100 million views, and earning recognition as one of Variety's "Ten Comics to Watch." Several of his videos went viral -- including "Jennifer Is A Party Pooper" -- which led to a series of TV appearances on programs like The Today Show and ESPN's SportsCenter, giving him the springboard he needed to launch his acting career. Borg's breakout role came in Universal Pictures' "Pitch Perfect 2" opposite Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick as the male lead of Das Sound Machine. Flula reprised this role for Peacock's "Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin," which has been renewed for a second season. Soon after, Flula transitioned into true bad guy territory with his role as Javelin in James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad," eating 6,000 calories a day and getting yelled at by celebrity trainer Paolo Mascitti for months in order to achieve a supervillain body. To support the film Borg released "SuperVillain," a techno-dance EP with music inspired by The Suicide Squad featuring vocals from Reggie Watts, Sean Gunn (aka Weasel), and Steve Agee (aka John Economos). Flula's unique vocal stylings have also allowed him to break into the voice acting space with memorable roles in features such as Fox Pictures' "Ferdinand," Disney's "Ralph Breaks the Internet," and Apple's "Luck," as well as dozens of appearances in shows like "Archer," "Rugrats," and as Comfortable Doug in Netflix's "Centaurworld." His ever-growing list of small screen credits includes HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Silicon Valley," Comedy Central's "Workaholics" and "@Midnight," Conan O'Brien's frequently excitable guest on TBS's "Conan," CBS's "Ghosts," and the recurring role of Skip Tracer Randy in ABC's "The Rookie." Flula has started producing projects, including Orion Pictures' "Buddymoon," which he starred in and executive produced. It went on to win Slamdance Film Festival, Las Vegas Film Festival, and several others. Borg's upcoming projects include playing the historical figure Hans von Dohnanyi in the WWII feature "God's Spy" directed by Todd Komarnicki, a German baddie in Amazon's "My Spy: The Eternal City" starring Dave Bautista and Anna Faris, Pieter Kramer in season two of "Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin," and roles in several animated projects. Flula lives (mostly) in Los Angeles and is deathly afraid of toy poodles.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Casting Department
"Dead, wrapped in plastic" is how Sheryl Lee entered onto the scene as Laura Palmer, the doomed homecoming queen on the cult TV series Twin Peaks (1990).
Lee was born April 27, 1967 in Germany. She grew up in Boulder, Colorado, spending much of her youth studying dance before knee injuries ended her hope of becoming a dancer. She began acting in school plays, graduated from Fairview High School, and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California. Lee also spent time at the North Carolina School of Arts, the National Conservatory Theater in Denver, and Colorado University before pursuing stage work in Seattle, Washington.
Here Lee landed the role of Laura Palmer, and she later appeared on Twin Peaks (1990) as Laura's cousin, Madeleine Ferguson. Madeleine was a brunette and wore glasses, but of course bore a striking resemblance to her late relative. Lee worked with Twin Peaks (1990) mastermind David Lynch again on the film, Wild at Heart (1990), and resurrected Laura Palmer one last time for Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992).
Lee has gone on to have a long and adventurous career since then. Appearances have included the Stuart Sutcliffe biopic Backbeat (1994), the John Carpenter film Vampires (1998), and the TV series L.A. Doctors (1998).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Saul Rubinek was born in a refugee camp in Germany, where his father ran a Yiddish Repertory Theatre company. Saul started his professional career as a child actor in theater and radio in Canada. By the time he was 20, he was a member of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival company in Stratford, Ontario and, later, was a co-founder, actor and director of Theatre Le Hibou, Theatre Passe-Muraille and Toronto Free Theatre. He got his early training in film and television as an actor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Saul started working in the United States as an actor at the Public Theater in New York. Rubinek's work on U.S. and Canadian television, film and theater spans four decades. In 1997, Rubinek directed his first feature for Lionsgate, based on the play he previously directed, Jerry and Tom (1998). He also was producer on the film in partnership with his wife, Elinor Reid. The film was an official entry in competition at Sundance in 1998. He also directed the features _Club Land (2001) (TV)_ and _Bleacher Bums (2001) (TV)_ for Showtime/Paramount. Rubinek directed, and his wife and partner Elinor Reid produced the award-winning indie film Cruel But Necessary (2005). Penguin Books published (1987) Rubinek's non-fiction book, "So Many Miracles", an account of his parents' survival growing up in Poland during World War II. He wrote and produced an award-winning documentary (1988) of the same title, So Many Miracles (1987), for CBC and PBS which chronicles his parents' reunion with the people who saved their lives during the Holocaust. The DVD of the documentary is available from The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University. Rubinek wrote the play "Terrible Advice", which was produced in 2011 in London by The Chocolate Factory, starring Scott Bakula, Andy Nyman, Caroline Quentin, Sharon Horgan, and directed by Frank Oz.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
A true master of his craft, Michael Haneke is one of the greatest film artists working today and one who challenges his viewers each year and work goes by, with films that reflect real portions of life in realistic, disturbing and unforgettable ways. One of the most genuine filmmakers of the world cinema, Haneke wrote and directed films in several languages: French, German and English, working with a great variety of actors, such as Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Toby Jones, Ülrich Muhe, Arno Frisch and the list goes on.
This grand figure from Austrian cinema was born in Germany on 23 March 1942, from a German father and an Austrian mother, with both parents being from the artistic world working as actors, a career that Michael also tried but without much success. At the University of Vienna he studied drama, philosophy and psychology, and after graduation he went on to become a film critic and TV editor. His career behind camera started with After Liverpool (1974), which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct five more TV films and two episodes from the miniseries "Lemminge" (1979)_.
The years spent on television works prompted him to finally direct his first cinema feature, during his early 40's, which is somewhat unusual for film directors. But it was worth waiting. In The Seventh Continent (1989), Haneke establishes the foundation of what his future cinema would be about: a cinema that doesn't provides answers but one that dares to throw more and more questions, a cinema that reflects and analyses the human condition in its darkest and unexpected ways outside of any Hollywood formula. Films that exist to confront audiences and not comfort them. In it, Haneke deals with the duality of social values vs. internal values while exposing an apparent perfect family that runs into physical and material disintegration for reasons unknown. It was the first time a film of his was sent to the Cannes Film Festival (out of competition lineup) but he managed to cause some commotion in the audience with polemic scenes that were meant to extract all possible reactions from the crowd.
His next ventures at the decade's turn was in dealing with disturbed youth and the alienation they have in separating reality from fiction, trying to intersect both to drastic results. In Benny's Video (1992), it's the disturbing story of a teen boy who experiences killing for the first time capturing the murder on tape, impressed by the power of detachment that films and videos can cause to people; and later on the highly controversial Funny Games (1997), where two teens hold a family hostage to play sadistic games just for their own sick amusement. The film cemented Haneke's name as one of the greatest authors of his generation but sparkled a great debate with its themes of violence, sadism and the influence those things have in audiences. At the 1997's Cannes Film Festival, it was the film that had the most walk-out's by the audience. In between both films, he released 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994) and Kafka's The Castle (1997), the latter being one of the rare times when Haneke developed an adapted work.
In the 2000's, he strongly continued in producing more outstanding works prone to debate and reflection in what would become his most prolific decade with the following films: Code Unknown (2000), The Piano Teacher (2001), Time of the Wolf (2003), Caché (2005), an American remake shot-by shot of Funny Games (2007) and The White Ribbon (2009). His study about romance versus masochism in The Piano Teacher (2001) was an intense work, with powerful performances by Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Magimel, that the Cannes jury in the year were so impressed that Haneke managed to actually reverse their award rules where it was decided that film entries at the festival couldn't win more than one main award (the two lead actors won awards and Haneke got the Grand Prize of the Jury, just lost the Palme d'Or). With The White Ribbon (2009), an enigmatic black-and-white masterpiece following the inception of Nazism in this pre WWI and WWII story focusing on repressed children living in this small village where strange events happen all the time and without any possible reasoning, Haneke conquered the world and audiences with an artistic and daring work that won his first Palme d'Or a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film and received an Oscar nomination for the same category plus the cinematography work of Christian Berger.
2012 was the year that marked his supremacy in the film world with the release of the bold and beautiful Amour (2012), a love story with powerful real drama and one where Haneke removed most of his usual dark characteristics to present more quiet and calm elements without losing input in creating controversy. The touching story of George and Anne provided one the greatest moments of that year and earned Haneke his second and consecutive Palme d'Or at Cannes and his first Oscar nominations for Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay - and it was one of the several nominees for Best Picture Oscar, winning as Best Foreign Language Film.
After abandoning a flash-mob film project, he returned to the screen with Happy End (2017), a film dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe and again he debuted his film at Cannes, receiving mildly positive reviews.
Besides his film work, Haneke also directs theatre productions, from drama to opera, from Così fan tutte to Don Giovanni.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Brittney Powell was born on 4 March 1972 in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress and writer, known for Trouble Is My Business (2018), Airborne (1993) and That Thing You Do! (1996).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Lisa Vicari is a German actress. She is known for Luna (2017), Hell (2017) and the Netflix series Dark.
Her acting debut was in the short film Tunnelblicke (2009) and her first film on the big screen was Hanni & Nanni (2010).
Vicari also had other small roles in Einer wie Bruno (2011) and Exit Marrakech (2013).
Her first major role in a film was in Doktorspiele (2014).- Actress
Nadia Hilker is a German actress, known for her roles in Spring (2014), The 100 (2014) and The Walking Dead (2010).
Nadia Hilker is a renowned German film and television actress who has been in the movie industry since 2010. Best known for her role in Spring and The 100, Hilker's love for acting dates back to her childhood days. Her nationality is German. Her father worked in IT while her mother worked at Lufthansa airline. The two only spent thirty-five years as husband and wife and had Nadia and her brother as children. Growing up with her only brother was fun for Hilker as both had adventurous spirits. On several occasions, they visited Paris from Munich just to have coffee on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris and also built tree houses in the forest near their home.
Before joining the movie industry, Hilker worked as a model. She was discovered by a model agent at a ballet school. She lost interest in modeling after a couple of years to give chase to her acting ambition.
The German star began her journey to stardom by taking on the famous role of Marie-Luise Seelig in the television movie Zimmer mit Tante (2010). In the same year, she scored the role of Xenia in the television movie The Route (2010), a drama movie written by Tobias Stille and directed by Florian Froschmayer.
Over the course of her acting career, she has made more than eighteen appearances on television movies and films. Her notable films include Spring (2014), In the Gallery (2014), The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016), and Collide (2016). In 2015, she was decorated with the Fright Meter award for roles in her debut movie, Spring.
In addition to acting, Nadia is also good at writing. She once said that writing is the only creativity that helps her grow and explore the world. Her other hobbies are cooking and music. As for her musical influences, she named King of Pop Michael Jackson as one of her musical heroes.- Actress
- Producer
Sepideh Moafi is an American actress and singer. Moafi is best known for her role as Gigi Ghorbani in The L Word: Generation Q and Loretta in The Deuce. Moafi has also starred in Notorious, Falling Water and The Killing of Two Lovers. Moafi was born on September 18, 1985, in a refugee camp in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.Prior to Moafi's birth, Moafi's parents had to flee Iran after the Islamic Revolution. After two years in Turkey and then Germany where Moafi's parents sought political asylum and claimed refugee status, Moafi's family were granted visas to come to the United States.- Alicia von Rittberg, born on December 10, 1993 in Munich, made her debut in front of the camera at the age of six in the popular TV-show "Dingsda," in which small children had to explain different everyday concepts. But her real acting career began only a few years later: in 2006 she appeared in a series of the crime series "The Old One," followed by supporting roles in the television games Die Lawine (2007) and Die Sache mit dem Glück (2008). Alicia von Rittberg became known to a wider audience through the seven-part film series Meine wunderbare Familie (2008); In it she played the 13-year-old daughter of the main character. In the film biography Romy (2009), she played Romy Schneider in her teens. Shortly thereafter, she was seen in No Sky Over Whales (2009) as the daughter of Veronica Ferres played main character. Other supporting roles she had in the cinema comedy Eine ganz heiße Nummer (2011), in A Deal with Adele (2012) and in Christian Petzold's GDR drama Barbara (2012). A major role played by Rittberg as a humiliated Heimkind in the drama Und alle haben geschwiegen (2012). In 2013, she received the Günter Rohrbach Film Prize and the Young Talent Award at the Bavarian Television Prize for this performance. Positive reviews also got the TV play The Lost Daughter (2013), about a woman who is suddenly confronted after 16 years with her daughter once released for adoption. Rittberg also belonged to the family history ensemble On the Road with Elsa (2014) and the historical thriller The Midwife (2014). The latter role earned her the New Faces Award for Best Newcomer Actress. Rittberg had a small but significant role in the American second world war movie Fury (2014) starring Brad Pitt. She played in it a young German, who must host an American tank crew. Easier stuff was the romantic comedy Das Romeo-Prinzip (2015), which showed her as a shy student. Director Sönke Wortmann cast Alicia von Rittberg in a starring role in his acclaimed mini-series Charité (2017) as a combative and ambitious nurse. Another American production was the miniseries Genius (2017) on the life of Albert Einstein, in which played by Rittberg Anna Winteler, the daughter of the scientist Jost Winteler. In the same year she was an ambitious elite student to the ensemble of Alain Gsponer's Godless Youth (2017), a dystopian future after Ödön von Horvath's novel of the same name.
In addition to acting, Alicia von Rittberg studies economics in Friedrichshafen. - Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
George Dzundza was born on 19 July 1945 in Rosenheim, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor and assistant director, known for Crimson Tide (1995), Basic Instinct (1992) and The Deer Hunter (1978). He has been married to Mary Jo Vermeulen since 1982. They have three children.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Harry Groener was born on 10 September 1951 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor, known for A Cure for Wellness (2016), Patch Adams (1998) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). He has been married to Dawn Didawick since 19 September 1978.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Above all, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a rebel whose life and art was marked by gross contradiction. Openly homosexual, he married twice; one of his wives acted in his films and the other served as his editor. Accused variously by detractors of being anticommunist, male chauvinist, antiSemitic and even antigay, he completed 44 projects between 1966 and 1982, the majority of which can be characterized as highly intelligent social melodramas. His prodigious output was matched by a wild, self-destructive libertinage that earned him a reputation as the enfant terrible of the New German Cinema (as well as its central figure.) Known for his trademark leather jacket and grungy appearance, Fassbinder cruised the bar scene by night, looking for sex and drugs, yet he maintained a flawless work ethic by day. Actors and actresses recount disturbing stories of his brutality toward them, yet his pictures demonstrate his deep sensitivity to social misfits and his hatred of institutionalized violence. Some find his cinema needlessly controversial and avant-garde; others accuse him of surrendering to the Hollywood ethos. It is best said that he drew forth strong emotional reactions from all he encountered, both in his personal and professional lives, and this provocative nature can be experienced posthumously through reviewing his artistic legacy.
Fassbinder was born into a bourgeois Bavarian family in 1945. His father was a doctor and his mother a translator. In order to have time for her work, his mother frequently sent him the movies, a practice that gave birth to his obsession with the medium. Later in life, he would claim that he saw a film nearly every day and sometimes as many as three or four. At the age of 15, Fassbinder defiantly declared his homosexuality, soon after which he left school and took a job. He studied theater in the mid-sixties at the Fridl-Leonhard Studio in Munich and joined the Action Theater (aka, Anti-Theater) in 1967. Unlike the other major auteurs of the New German Cinema (e.g., Schlöndorff, Herzog and Wenders) who started out making movies, Fassbinder acquired an extensive stage background that is evident throughout his work. Additionally, he learned how to handle all phases of production, from writing and acting to direction and theater management. This versatility later surfaced in his films where, in addition to some of the aforementioned responsibilities, Fassbinder served as composer, production designer, cinematographer, producer and editor. [So boundless was his energy, in fact, that he appeared in 30 projects of other directors.] In his theater years, he also developed a repertory company that included his mother, two of his wives and various male and female lovers. Coupled with his ability to serve in nearly any crew capacity, this gave him the ability to produce his films quickly and on extremely low budgets.
Success was not immediate for Fassbinder. His first feature length film, a gangster movie called Love Is Colder Than Death (1969) was greeted by catcalls at the Berlin Film Festival. His next piece, Katzelmacher (1969), was a minor critical success, garnering five prizes after its debut at Mannheim. It featured Jorgos, an emigrant from Greece, who encounters violent xenophobic slackers in moving into an all-German neighborhood. This kind of social criticism, featuring alienated characters unable to escape the forces of oppression, is a constant throughout Fassbinder's diverse oeuvre. In subsequent years, he made such controversial films about human savagery such as Pioneers in Ingolstadt (1971) and Whity (1971) before scoring his first domestic commercial success with The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972). This moving portrait of a street vendor crushed by the betrayal and his own futility is considered a masterpiece, as is his first international success Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) (Fear Eats the Soul). With a wider audience for his efforts, however, some critics contend that Fassbinder began to sell out with big budget projects such as Despair (1978), Lili Marleen (1981) and Lola (1981). In retrospect, however, it seems that the added fame simply enabled Fassbinder to explore various kinds of filmmaking, including such "private" works as In a Year with 13 Moons (1978) and The Third Generation (1979), two films about individual experience and feelings. His greatest success came with The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) (The Marriage of Maria Braun), chronicling the rise and fall of a German woman in the wake of World War II. Other notable movies include The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Fox and His Friends (1975), Satan's Brew (1976) and Querelle (1982), all focused on gay and lesbian themes and frequently with a strongly pornographic edge.
His death is a perfect picture of the man and his legend. On the night of June 10, 1982, Fassbinder took an overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills. When he was found, the unfinished script for a version of Rosa Luxemburg was lying next to him. So boundless was his drive and creativity that, throughout his downward spiral and even in the moment of his death, Fassbinder never ceased to be productive.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Marc Forster is a German-born filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films Monster's Ball (2001), Finding Neverland (2004), Stay (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), The Kite Runner (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008), and World War Z (2013).
His breakthrough film was Monster's Ball (2001), in which he directed Halle Berry in her Academy Award-winning performance, the film also starred Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, and Peter Boyle. His next film, Finding Neverland (2004), was based on the life of author J.M. Barrie. The film was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Johnny Depp.
Forster also directed the twenty-second James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. In 2013 he directed the film adaptation of the novel World War Z, starring Brad Pitt.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Susan Cummings was born on 10 July 1930 in Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress, known for Swamp Women (1956), Soldiers of Fortune (1955) and Utah Blaine (1957). She was married to Robert Edward Strasser, Charles Pawley and Keith Larsen. She died on 3 December 2016 in Chandler, Arizona, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Andreas Pietschmann was born on 22 March 1969 in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor, known for Dark (2017), 1899 (2022) and Belle & Sebastian (2013).- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Florian David Fitz was born on 20 November 1974 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. He is an actor and writer, known for Jesus Loves Me (2012), The Most Beautiful Day (2016) and Oskars Kleid (2022).- Actress
- Writer
Rosalie Thomass was born on 14 August 1987 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. She is an actress and writer, known for Greetings from Fukushima (2016), The Unheard Woman (2016) and The Heartbreak Agency (2024).- 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.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
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
- Director
- Additional Crew
Curd Jürgens (commonly billed as "Curt Jurgens" in anglophone countries) was one of the most successful European film actors of the 20th Century. He was born Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens on December 13, 1915, in Solln, Bavaria, in Hohenzollern Imperial Germany, a subject of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Of Franco-German parentage, Jürgens -- who was born during the closing days of the second year of the First World War -- would abandon the country of his birth after the end of World War II: Jürgens became an Austrian citizen in 1945 and lived part-time in France.
Jürgens entered the journalism profession after receiving his education, and married Louise Basler, an actress. Basler, the first of his five wives, encouraged him to switch careers and become an actor. He learned his new profession on the Vienna stage, which retained his loyalty even after he became an global film star. Jürgens was sent to a concentration camp for "political unreliables" in 1944, due to his anti-Nazi opinions. It was this experience in Nazi Germany that led him to become an Austrian citizen after the war.
His appearance in The Devil's General (1955) ("The Devil's General" (1955)), established him as a star of German cinema, and his role as Brigitte Bardot's older lover in Roger Vadim's ...And God Created Woman (1956) (And God Created Woman (1956)) made him an international star. Always interested in multilingual European actors with good looks and talent, Hollywood beckoned the 6' 4" Jürgens, casting him in The Enemy Below (1957) as a WWII German U-boat commander in a duel with American destroyer commander Robert Mitchum. He constantly was in demand to play Germany military officers (e.g., The Longest Day (1962), the most expensive black-and-white film ever made) -- indeed, his last role was as "The General" in the miniseries Smiley's People (1982) -- and Germanic villains (e.g., "Cornelius", the cowardly and treacherous trading company representative, in Lord Jim (1965)) for the rest of his life. One of his most famous roles in the English-language cinema was as the James Bond villain, "Karl Stromberg", in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977); it was Moore's favorite Bond film.
Jürgens considered himself primarily a stage actor and often performed on the Vienna stage. Though the world knew him as a cinema actor, he also directed several films and wrote several screenplays and an autobiography, "Sixty and Not Yet Wise" (1975). His death from a heart attack in 1982 in Vienna was front-page news across Austria and Germany.- Nadiuska was born on 19 January 1952 in Schierling, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress, known for Conan the Barbarian (1982), Black Commando (1982) and La muerte ronda a Mónica (1977). She was previously married to Fernando Montalbán Sánchez.
- Kim Riedle was born in Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress, known for Back for Good (2017), Dear Child (2023) and Skylines (2019).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Tracey E. Bregman was born on 29 May 1963 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress, known for The Young and the Restless (1973), The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) and Days of Our Lives (1965). She was previously married to Ronald Recht.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jake Picking was born on 2 March 1991 in Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor, known for Hollywood (2020), Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and Patriots Day (2016).- Actor
- Visual Effects
- Director
Stephen Stanton is an American actor & filmmaker best known for his work as a voice actor and voicematch artist. He has portrayed a wide variety of characters in Lucasfilm's Star Wars franchise most notably as Admiral Raddus in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", Ben Kenobi in "Star Wars: Rebels", and Wilhuff Tarkin in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" & "Star Wars: The Bad Batch".
Stephen has lent his voice to many animated series, giving voice to Smitty & Needleman in the Disney/Pixar series "Monsters at Work", Pete Puma in "Looney Tunes", Scarecrow in Amazon's Award-Winning "Lost in Oz" series, Gustav Gator in "Doc McStuffins" and multiple characters in "The Tom & Jerry Show."
In addition to his animation, film and television work, Stephen has supplied voices for many Disney theme park attractions & characters at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Hong Kong Disneyland, Disneyland Paris & Shanghai Disneyland.
Stephen can also be heard throughout the world of video gaming as the Big Daddy in the "Bioshock" franchise, as well as Sasha Nein in "Pyschonauts", and Ben Kenobi in "Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga", "Star Wars: Empire at War" and the original "Star Wars: Battlefront II".- Christopher Lamm was born on 10 August 1993 in Schweinfurt, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor, known for Sallywood, Palm Royale (2024) and Carrie Underwood: Smoke Break (2015).
- Harriet Herbig-Matten was born in 2003 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress, known for Baltic Crimes (2014), Teenosaurus Rex (2017) and Maxton Hall: The World Between Us (2024).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Elyas M'Barek was born on 29 May 1982 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor, known for Suck Me Shakespeer (2013), Who Am I (2014) and The Wave (2008).- Actress
- Director
- Additional Crew
Jeanette Hain was born in Munich. While studying directing at the School of Television and Film in Munich, the by chance meeting with director Sherry Hormann made her childhood dream come true by resulting in her first leading part in "Die Cellistin - Liebe und Verhängnis". Since then she has been playing in German and international films.- Rosemary Murphy was born on 13 January 1925 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress, known for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and After.Life (2009). She was married to Reginald Marsh. She died on 5 July 2014 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in Munich in 1969, Gedeon was raised bilingual (English & German). He was sent to boarding school in England at the age of 8 and transferred to American high school at the age of 12. Gedeon starred in his first movie (Aunt Maria) when he was 10, his second lead role followed one year later in the American / German co-production Blood and Honor (3 part mini series) as Hartmut Keller. By demand of the American and German Producers each scene was shot once in English and once in German, due to his bilingual upbringing, Gedeon was the only actor who did not have to be dubbed in either version.
Gedeon continuously worked in various projects during school vacations until he dropped out of high school after 11th grade. At this time he concentrated on training for 2 years, attending musical school and taking speech and acting classes on the side.
In 1988 Gedeon starred, next to Tony Curtis and Birol Head On by Fathi Akin), in the motion Picture Welcome to Germany which marked the beginning of his career as a grownup. Since then Gedeon has acted in numerous films, including Acting it Out (German film award/ Movie and Bavarian Film award/Actor) by acclaimed German director Wortman, Silence like Glass by Carl Schenkel and Making Up (Student Academy Award USA/German Film Award) by Katja von Garnier. He also starred in the internationally successful television series Detectiv Rex (sold to over 140 territories) and Kobra 11 (Action series, sold to over 120 territories).
in 2006 Gedeon portrayed Henry Neumann, a Jewish boxer trapped in a boxcar with his family on the way to Auschwitz, in the motion picture The last Train. This challenging part, it seems, was the perfect preparation for the biggest opportunity in his career to date, the part of the Jewish Basterd (Will Wicky) in Quentin Tarantino's new movie Inglorious Basterds.- Lisa Kreuzer was born on 2 December 1945 in Hof, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress, known for The American Friend (1977), Alice in the Cities (1974) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). She was previously married to Wim Wenders.
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Heidi Brühl was born on 30 January 1942 in Gräfelfing, Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress, known for Hochzeit auf Immenhof (1956), Der Zigeunerbaron (1962) and Ferien auf Immenhof (1957). She was married to Brett Halsey. She died on 8 June 1991 in Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany.- Actress
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Uschi Glas was born on 2 March 1944 in Landau an der Isar, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress and writer, known for Zwei Münchner in Hamburg (1989), Go for It, Baby (1968) and Suck Me Shakespeer (2013). She has been married to Dieter Hermann since 22 October 2005. She was previously married to Bernhard Tewaag.- Meike Droste was born on 5 February 1980 in Bobingen, Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress, known for Mord mit Aussicht (2008), Tatort (1970) and Pascals Reise ins Glück - Operation Germanenkind.
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Brigitte Hobmeier was born on 2 March 1976 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. She is an actress, known for Identity Kills (2003), Closed Season (2012) and Tatort (1970).- Actress
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Jaid Barrymore was born on 8 May 1946 in Brannenburg, Bavaria, Germany. She is an actress and writer, known for Searching for Bobby D (2005), Enchanted (1998) and Everything's Jake (2000). She was previously married to John Drew Barrymore.- Actress
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Molly Jackson is a multi-talented, young adult actress with over fifteen years of working experience. She was born into a military family stationed in Würzburg, Germany, with Costa Rican and Jewish blood. Molly has acted in principal roles for Netflix, Fox, Disney, ABC, and Nickelodeon series. She has also acted in multiple indie features, three of them coming out later this year and early 2023. Not only does she act in front of the camera, but also enjoys bringing characters to life through her voice. Molly has done voiceover work for many major feature films over the last decade and voiced Gabby on Nickelodeon's "Blaze and the Monster Machines." Despite being on set quite often, Molly can never get enough of performing. So when she is home in Los Angeles, Molly attends classes at AMAW, The Yard Theater, and Groundlings. When she is not working or growing in her craft, Molly is studying towards her B.S. in Abnormal Psychology, practicing her musical skills, writing, working with animal rescue organizations, volunteering with Planned Parenthood, and reading, a lot of reading.- Actor
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Simon Verhoeven is a director and screenwriter. He was born on June 20, 1972, in Munich, Germany, to actress Senta Berger and director Michael Verhoeven.
After high school, Verhoeven enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute to study acting but left the program after a couple of months to complete a four-year degree in screenwriting and directing at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He also studied piano under the American jazz pianist Don Friedman.
Starting out as an actor, Verhoeven appeared in over 30 feature films and TV movies - among them the New York-based indie comedy Party Girl (1995), the biopic Bride of the Wind (2001) directed by Oscar® nominee Bruce Beresford, the award-winning Mogadischu (2008) as well as the Russian-German film Vasilisa (2000), starring alongside infamous punk icon Nina Hagen.
In 2001, Verhoeven made his cinematic debut as a director and screenwriter with the coming-of-age film 100 Pro (2001) starring Ken Duken. His big break came with the feature film Men in the City (2009) (internationally released as Men in the City). Distributed by Warner Bros., the comedy became a hit with audiences and critics alike, winning the Jupiter Award 2010 for Best Film as well as the Bavarian Film Award for Best Screenplay, among others. The cast also received a Bambi (Germany's most prestigious media award). Men in the City has been remade in various countries.
After writing and directing the equally successful sequel Men in the City 2 (2011), Verhoeven turned to a completely different genre in 2014, directing the low-budget-horror movie Unfriend starring Alycia Debnam-Carey. Although a creative disappointment for the director, the German production was screened in theaters worldwide.
Verhoeven's next movie Welcome to Germany (2016) became 2016's most successful German film in theaters. The biting social satire deals with the refugee crisis and social tensions by placing them in the microcosm of a quarreling family. Hitting the zeitgeist, the film won numerous awards in Germany and was nominated for Best Comedy at the European Film Awards. It was even adapted for the stage, debuting at the renowned Viennese Burgtheater.
In 2020, Verhoeven's film Nightlife (2020), starring Elyas M'Barek and Palina Rojinski - his fifth collaboration with Warner Bros. and the German production company Wiedemann & Berg - went straight to number one at the German box office and was later named the most successful German film of 2020. Nightlife (2020) also won multiple awards including the Ernst Lubitsch Award in 2021.- Actress
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Gabrielle Scharnitzky, german actress of east-prussian decent, will soon be appearing in Roland Emmerich's highly anticipated first streaming series "Those About To Die" (TATD). This 10 episodes series stars Oscar-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins as Emperor Vespasian, Iwan Rheon ("Games of Thrones") as Tenax. Tom Hughes ("Victoria") as Titus Flavianus, Sara Martins ("Death in Paradise") as Cala and Scharnitzky in a supporting role as DRUSILLA. Directed by Roland Emmerich and Marco Kreuzpaintner. Shot at legendary Cinecittá Studios in Rome, this epic sword-and-sandal series will premiere on Peacock/Amazon in Summer 2024
Her previous work includes the major Apple TV Series "Shantaram", starring as the mysterious and too rebellious MADAME ZHOU, next to Charlie Hunnam, Alexander Siddig, Antonia Desplat, Fayssal Bazzi, Elektra Kilbey, Luke Pasqualino. The series, based on the internationally best-selling novel by Gregory Roberts, was shot in Australia and Thailand. Directed by Bharat Nalluri, Bronwen Hughes, Iain B. MacDonald. Produced by Anonymous Content/AppleTV+.
As one of the lead characters on the Amazon Prime series "Treadstone", we see Scharnitzky doing her own stunts as no-nonsense Russian patriot PETRA in this action-packed Jason Bourne Spin-off, created by Tim Kring. Directed by Ramin Bahrani, Alex Graves, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Jeremy Webb, Waine Yip. Produced by Captivate Entertainment/USANetwork/Amazon Prime Video. In the 1. Season of the SKY Original financial thriller drama TV series "Devils", Scharnitzky steps into the (uncomfortable) shoes of German Finance Minister ANTONIA KESSLER who meets the unscrupulous banker DOMINIC MORGAN, played by Patrick Dempsey. Directed by Nick Hurran. In the Amazon Prime produced German comedy series "Love Addicts" that focuses on four young misfits and their turbulent search for love in the digital age, we see Scharnitzky as the relentless mother TRACY PEARL. Directed by Janosch Kreft.
Her appearances on English Tele include BBC Spy mini series "The Game" as polish waitress KITTY next to Tom Hughes, Brian Cox; the supernatural BBC mini - series "Bonekickers" as German archeologist DR. BECKER opposite Hugh Bonneville and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Scharnitzky also worked in several int. and german feature films, i.e. "Mesmer", Dir. Roger Spottiswoode, as GRAND LADY at the 18th-century Parisian court next to legendary Alan Rickman (RIP); or as the Aramaic palm reader SHAILA in Catherine Hardwicke's Bible film "The Nativity Story", next to Academy Award winner Keisha Castle-Hughes as Mary and multi-awarded Oscar Isaac as Joseph, fleeing the torturous rule of King Herod the Great, played by Ciarán Hinds. Or as the quite anal-retentive, franconian mother FRAU WERNER opposite Tom Schilling in Oscar Roehler's "Punk Berlin 1982". Her Italian-speaking Russian billionaire LUDMILLA in Carlo Vanzina's Italian Comedy "A Fairy Tale Wedding" or german-italian protagonist SUZANNE VALTENGHI who discovers a terrible truth in Pasquale Marrazzo's "Le Anime Veloci/Fast Soul", opposite legendary Italian actor Arnoldo Foá (in one of his last roles), gave her the joy to work in Italy. And there is jealous CORINNA in Detlef Bothe's German tragic comedy "My Wife, My Friends and I" or theatre icon HELENE WEIGEL, the wife of Bertolt Brecht, in UK produced film "The Empty Plan". The film examines the political and aesthetic dimensions of the work of Bertolt Brecht, contrasting it with the couple's exile in Hollywood during the 1940's and won the Derek Jarman Award 2011for Best Movie.
Since the 90's Scharnitzky appeared in numerous, most of them long-established German TV Productions, i.e. "Polizeiruf 110" (Police Call 110"), "Usedom-Krimi" ("Baltic Crimes"), "Der Alte" ( "The Old Fox"), "Ein Fall Für Zwei" ("A Case For Two"), "Großstadtrevier", "Mordkommission", "SOKO Potsdam", "SOKO Stuttgart", "Ein Starkes Team", "Wolffs' Revier", and many more. Her biggest recognition in German television came with playing salty antagonist SOPHIE VON BRAHMBERG in the famous German version of "Ugly Betty" known as SAT1 Series "Verliebt In Berlin" ("Thats life") airing two seasons (2005-2007), it gained the German TV Award & Rose d 'Or 2005, was sold to 27 countries and is still aired in loops to this day.
Gabrielle is based in Berlin. In her free time she follows her second passion and teaches Integral Acting to actors and people from all walks of life. She loves to write, paint and create photo paintings. Her charity work spans over many years supporting TERRE DES FEMMES as an Ambassador for Women Rights.
German Representation: Crawford Talents US Management: Zero Gravity Management- Actress
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Olivia Pascal was born on 26 May 1957 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. She is an actress and publicist, known for The Fruit Is Ripe (1977), Sunshine Reggae auf Ibiza (1983) and The Joy of Flying (1977). She has been married to Peter Kanitz since 2009.- Marie Hacke was born on 17 July 1989 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. She is an actress, known for Blood & Gold (2023), Boom Boom Bruno (2023) and Aus dem Tagebuch eines Uber Fahrers (2020).
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Lavinia Wilson was born in Munich, Germany on March 8th, 1980. She is an actor and producer, known for Æon Flux (2005), Andere Eltern (2019), Hey Bunny (2016) and Deutschland86 (2018). Her career started at the age of 11, with Leise Schatten (1991) and she has starred in over sixty films since then.- Actor
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Heinz Hoenig was born on 24 September 1951 in Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, Germany. He is an actor, known for Das Boot (1981), Der Schattenmann (1996) and Der König von St. Pauli (1998). He has been married to Annika Kärsten-Hoenig since 30 March 2019. They have two children. He was previously married to Simone Hoenig.- Mitsou Jung was born in summer 1998 in Munich, Germany. She is an actress, best known for the German TV series 'Hubert ohne Staller'.
Biography
Mitsou's mother, a graphic designer and published interior designer did a great job raising her first daughter together with her father, who decided to switch up his successful DJ career to work with real estate soon after her birth, how very exemplary! At the age of 8 Mitsou's little sister Lola was born. To Mitsou, "Lola is the better half of me [her] and the best sister one can imagine in this world", as quoted by her. From a young age on Mitsou would show that she was capable of having a good chat with quite anyone... other kids, family members, a Grown Up, or sometimes just the dog. Nothing really mattered to her, as long as she could sit at the 'Adults Table' at dinner. That's because since she was young she shared a big interest in all people and places in the world, and hearing and learning from them. She was keen on learning new languages such as English, French and Italian in school. Her favorite subjects have always been the artistic and musical ones, as well as history, and all sorts of sports. She took part in the school choir and the theater group and was excited to perform a play every now and then. She would lie if she'd say she didn't prefer a leading role over a smaller one. But even if she was just a tree, a tree in the corner, a tree in the corner behind other trees... she would do it gracefully and with joy... and yes, apparently video footage can be sighted for evidence. After finishing her A-Levels in high school with an A Degree with only 17 years, she spend a good amount of time working as a model, and traveling around Europe for it. With 19 years she then moved to Berlin, where she learned to stay up very, very long; and to tell stranger people how happy she is, how good her career is going and how she really, really never feels alone... basically everything you need to survive in the film industry, right? But at that time she didn't really have an acting career in mind, as she started to study 'North America Studies'. But through a series of events she was invited to a movie casting for a leading role in a German movie. After getting the role she blindly auditioned for, and doing some script- and role work with the director & writer, she truly found her passion, she would say so. But then came the first setback, the movie project was being canceled due to financial reasons. Mitsou then signed up for a private acting school in Munich, but she would only visit the acting school for a short amount of time. She was offered a continuing main role in a German TV show called 'Hubert ohne Staller', in which she made her acting debut as a young police woman. Since then she appeared on various TV films such as 'Gipfelstürmer- das Berginternat' in which she portrayed a depressed teenage girl in a sports boarding school. In 2022 she landed her first cinema role for a project with the well known German director 'Simon Verhoeven' for a portrayal of the rise & fall of the band 'Milli Vanilli' in the 80s. The movie 'Girl you know it's true' will premiere in December 2023. Mitsou is still doing some occasional modeling work, since she enjoys switching up things from time to time, but her main focus lays on her acting career. As quoted, she is "really excited for what's to come in the future, and if she would have a spare wish, it would be to work with - and be part of an international project in the future." Let's see! - Actress
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Julie K Smith was born in Nuremberg, West Germany. Began acting at the age of 9. She is one of four girls to do both Playboy & Penthouse Magazine. She is considered the B-movie Parody Queen. She has worked w/ all the great B-movie Directors including the late great Russ Meyer. She continues to star in mostly late night T.V. Although she has recently added Producing, and writing to her Resume.- Actress
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Shortly after being discovered by director Percy Adlon in a 1977 production of "Adele Spitzeder", Marianne Sägebrecht was cast as Madame Sanchez/Mrs. Sancho in the Director's TV special Herr Kischott (1980), a spin on "Don Quixote". Eventually, the actress became a muse (for lack of better term) to Adlon and consecutively starred in leading roles in several of the Director's films, one of which garnered Sägebrecht commercial success: the performance as Jasmin Münchgstettner, a woman who mysteriously appears just to bring luminosity to the old, beaten down, and spiritually deprived Bagdad Café in, Bagdad Cafe (1987), earned her a German Film Award.- Producer
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Multi-hyphenate artist Lukas Behnken is a Film Producer, Social Movement Architect, Vision Coach, Actor, DGA UPM and founder of Sterling Light Productions, focused on social justice initiatives and community impact through film. Social Action beacon and change maker through media, Lukas' first documentary, Mully, continues to raise both awareness and funds. To date, more than 60 million dollars has been raised to aid orphaned children as a direct result of Mully being watched.
As an actor, Lukas made his television debut on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1998, going on to appear in more than 50 film and television shows alongside industry titans such as Chris Pine, Forest Whitaker, Christina Hendricks, Alfred Molina, Ving Rhames, Blythe Danner, Holly Hunter, Sarah Drew, Christina Ricci and more.