After high school education, Altaras graduated from the
Berlin University of the Arts. Altaras completed her academic studies in
New York City. She founded the Western Stadthirschen theater in Berlin, where she worked as an actress, director and writer. In 1982, she made her movie debut, and in 1989 she had a lead role in '''', directed by
Rudolf Thome. However, the focus of her work remained with the various theater projects. She worked as a theater director at the
Berliner Ensemble and Neuköllner Opera in
Berlin, with her staging of the
Vagina monologues, which was shown with different actresses in 2001, becoming a great success. In the cinema, she has mainly acted in films by
Rudolf Thome, with whom she had worked since the 1980s. In 1988, she received the
Deutscher Filmpreis for her role in Thome's film ''''. In 1993, Altaras received the Theater Prize of the State of
North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1998 she received the
Deutscher Filmpreis Award. In 1999, she received the 2nd Audience Award
Friedrich Luft, Berlin. In 2000, she received a Silver Bear for acting. Altaras worked with
Steven Spielberg's
Shoah Foundation as an interviewer and lecturer. Altaras has two sons with composer Wolfgang Böhmer;
Aaron and Leonard Altaras. She is a regular columnist at the German newspaper
Die Zeit Online.
Regina Schilling directed the film ''
Tito's Glasses'' in 2014, based on Altaras's book
Titos Brille, in which she travels through her Croatian homeland in search of her family past and fights for the return of stolen property. == Filmography ==