Origin and training Ulrike Krumbiegel was born in East Berlin,
East Germany, as one of two daughters of an
international trader and a
nurse. She grew up in
Mitte. In 1976, she heard on the DDR-Radio that they are looking for an actor. At 15 years old, she applied as a student to the amateur playing group of the
Berliner Volksbühne, where she was accepted and starred in
Die Nacht nach der Abschlussfeier by Soviet writer
Vladimir Tendryakov. After her school training (Abitur 1980 in Mitte), she completed her acting studies at the
Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin until 1983.
Theatre She got her first stage engagement at the
Mecklenburg State Theatre, where she was on stage as
Iphigenie and
Minna von Barnhelm, among others. In 1986, she moved to the
Deutsches Theater, where she was a longtime member for 15 years altogether until 2001 and worked with directors like
Frank Castorf,
Jürgen Gosch, and many times with
Thomas Langhoff. Krumbiegel played many roles in the classical theatre repertoires. In the 1989–90 season, she starred as Natascha in
Nachtasyl (Director:
Friedo Solter). In the 1990–91 season, she was the Eve in
The Broken Jug. In the 1991–92 season, she took over the title role in a new production of the Kleist play
Das Käthchen von Heilbronn. Further stations were the
Berliner Ensemble, the
Munich Kammerspiele, the
Maxim Gorki Theatre, and the
Residenz Theatre of the
Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel. At the Maxim Gorki Theatre, she again starred in the 2001–02 season in Goethe's Iphigenie, in a production by Thomas Langhoff, with
Klaus Manchen (Thoas),
Joachim Meyerhoff (Orest),
Tilo Nest (Pylades), and
Siegfried Terpoorten (Arkas) as partners. In the 2003–04 season at the Munich Residenztheater (staged by Thomas Langhoff), she was the whore Yvette in the Brecht play
Mother Courage and Her Children, her lager whore was a "broken, tragicomic number between brokenness, lust, love and business ability". In the 2003–04 season, she starred along with the Berliner Ensemble as Gina Ekdal in the
Henrik Ibsen play
The Wild Duck (Director: Thomas Langhoff). In 2005, she starred in Munich Kammerspielen as Queen Gertrude in
Hamlet (Director:
Lars-Ole Walburg).
East German film and TV In the late phase of East Germany, Krumbiegel worked in many TV films and
DEFA productions. The director
Bodo Fürneisen discovered her while in her studies and gave her a female lead role in the 1981 TV film
Komm mit mir nach Chicago; Krumbiegel played the role of 17-year-old waiter apprentice Anja, who "goes from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan". More film and TV tasks for DEFA and the
Deutscher Fernsehfunk followed. In the youth film
Schwierig sich zu verloben (1982–83) by
Karl-Heinz Heymann, she took the role of the young saleswoman Barbara, whose love for the locksmith Wolle (
Werner Tritzschler) breaks down when she tells him of her
pregnancy. In the DEFA film
Junge Leute in der Stadt (1984–85), Ulrike Krumbiegel, under the directing of
Karl-Heinz Lotz, the saleswoman Frieda, who, in order to not lose her place, had to be sexually blackmailed by her boss Richard.
After the Peaceful Revolution After
East Germany ended, she kept getting roles in demanding cinema and TV productions, such as
Dietmar Klein's 1992 comedy
Der Erdnussmann or
Im Namen der Unschuld. She also worked together with directors
Margarethe von Trotta and
Andreas Kleinert. From 2000, Krumbiegel accepted more film and TV deals, but continued to appear, albeit to a reduced extent, in selected productions. In the meantime, Krumbiegel has participated in more than 100 film and television productions. In the drama film
Heidi M. (2001) by
Michael Klier she played, alongside
Katrin Sass, her girlfriend. In the 2004 war film
Downfall, she played the fictional role of Dorothee Kranz, who was the mother of
Hitler Youth soldier Peter Kranz. In the 2005 thriller
Antibodies by
Christian Alvart, she played Rosa Martens, the wife of a village policeman who witnessed her husband being manipulated by a jailed serial killer. In the 2007
teen film Meer is nich, she was the mother Karla, whose 17-year-old daughter is in a deep phase of self-discovery and indecision shortly before graduating from high school.
Crime series work She starred many times in the crime series
Tatort. In the Swedish thriller series
Greyzone (2018), she took a supporting role as German weapons designer Renate Gleisner. While shooting, Krumbiegel said her lines in
English with a German accent. In the ZDF series
The Old Fox, she took the role of Chairwoman Judge Emma Horvath, who is grieving for her child, one of the leading episodes in the new season, which will air from April 2019. In the ZDF series
SOKO München (2020), she played, alongside
Nils Hohenhövel, the mother of a suspect who becomes a murderer.
Private Krumbiegel is the mother of a grown-up daughter, whom she raised alone. Her hobbies are
skiing and
sailing and she lives in Mitte. == Role profile and awards ==