Johanna Wokalek

Wokalek was born in Freiburg, West Germany, daughter of a professor of dermatology from Mediaş, Romania. She attended the Friedrich-Gymnasium in Freiburg where she first tried acting in the school's drama group in 1991. After her final exams in 1994 Wokalek intended to allow herself up to three applications at drama schools before choosing a different career. Her first application to study at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna was accepted, and she moved to the Austrian capital in 1995 to begin her four-year study as a student of Klaus Maria Brandauer. Brandauer, well known for his parts in Mephisto, Out of Africa and Never Say Never Again, started teaching at the seminar at the same time. == Career ==

1996–2002: Stage acting and first feature film Still in her studies, 21-year-old Wokalek made her professional stage debut during the 1996 Wiener Festwochen in Joshua Sobol's play Alma, directed by Paulus Manker. and Sherry Hormann’s comedy Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein ('') (2012). In 2017 she took part in Matthias Glasner’s two-part drama for German television, Redemption Road, and in Jan Speckenbach’s cinema release, Freedom, which was shown at the Locarno Festival. Redemption Road'' was awarded a Grimme Prize in 2018. In 2019 Wokalek plays Ditte Nansen in Christina Schwochow’s remake of the novel The German Lesson by Siegfried Lenz. In Jonas Alexander Arnby’s drama Suicide Tourist she is seen as Linda. In 2019 Wokalek returns to the Burgtheater as Frau John in Gerhard Hauptmann's drama The rats, directed by Andrea Beth. In the same year Wokalek appears on stage with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch in the reproduction of Macbeth Er nimmt sie an die Hand und führt sie in das Schloß, die anderen folgen. The successful collaboration continues in 2020 with The seven deadly sins. Ein Tanzabend von Pina Bausch. == Film and television credits ==

• 2006: Johanna Wokalek reads Franziska Linkerhand by Brigitte Reimann. • 2008: Gretel Adorno – Walter Benjamin: Briefwechsel. • 2009: Herzzeit: Briefwechsel. Ingeborg Bachmann – Paul Celan. • 2009: Die Päpstin: das Hörspiel zum Film. • 2019: Johanna Wokalek reads Laufen by Isabel Bogdan. • 2020: Nelly B.s. Herz by Aris Fioretos. == Awards ==

• (1999), best new German stage actor/actress in Rose Bernd • Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen für junge Künstlerinnen und Künstler (1999) for Rose Bernd • Nachwuchsschauspielerin des Jahres (1999), best new actor/actress in Rose Bernd • Nestroy Theatre Prize (2002), best new actor/actress • Förderpreis Deutscher Film (2003), best actress in Hierankl • Bavarian Film Award (2003), best actress in a German film in Hierankl • Shooting Stars Award (2006), announced by European Film Promotion, best new German actor/actress in Barfuss and Hierankl • Adolf Grimme Award (2006), best performance in Hierankl, along with Barbara Sukowa, Josef Bierbichler and Peter Simonischek • Bambi (2008), best German actress in The Baader Meinhof Complex • DIVA (2009), best actress of the year 2008 • German Film Awards (2009), nominated as best actress for her performance in The Baader Meinhof Complex • Grimme Prize (2018) for Redemption Road == References ==