Adriana Altaras (born 6 April 1960) is a German actress, theatre director and author.

Early life

Altaras was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, FPR Yugoslavia to Jewish parents, Thea Altaras (née Fuhrmann) and Jakob Altaras, who were part of the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

. Her father started to explore the true causes of the death of his brother, Silvio Altaras, who was killed by the communist regime of the

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in early 1945. Because of that, in 1964, the League of Communists of Croatia initiated a court case against her father; as a result of this, she escaped Zagreb with her mother to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1964, in a car driven by her Italian uncle. She stayed with her mother in Italy for a few years, long enough to learn Italian. From Italy, Altaras moved to

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

, Germany in 1967.

Career

After high school education, Altaras graduated from the Berlin University of the Arts. Altaras completed her academic studies in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. 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 Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, 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 The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the Cinema of Germany, German film industry. Besides being ...

for her role in Thome's film '. In 1993, Altaras received the Theater Prize of the State of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. In 1998 she received the

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 Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

's Shoah Foundation as an interviewer and lecturer. Altaras has two sons with composer Wolfgang Böhmer;

Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...

and Leonard Altaras. She is a regular columnist at the German newspaper

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

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

* 1964: '' Nikoletina Bursać'' – Director: Branko BauerIMDB
/ref> * 1982: ''Dorado (one way)'' – Director: Reinhard Münster * 1987: '' In der Wüste'' – Director: Rafael Fuster Pardo * 1988: ' – Director: Rudolf Thome * 1988: ' – Director: Rudolf Thome (with Johannes Herrschmann) * 1989: ' – Director: Rudolf Thome * 1994: ''Löwenzahn – Eine dolle Knolle'' * 1995: ' – Director: Rudolf Thome * 1996: '' Killer Condom'' – Director: Martin Walz * 1997: '' Tatort: Gefährliche Übertragung'' – Director: Petra Haffter (TV series episode) * 1997: ''Liebe Lügen'' – Director: Martin Walz * 1999: '' Apokalypso'' – Director: Martin Walz * 2000: ' – Director: Rudolf Thome * 2003: ' – Director: Rudolf Thome * 2003: '' Tor zum Himmel'' – Director: Veit Helmer * 2004: '' Alles auf Zucker!'' – Director: Dani Levy * 2006: ' – Director: Rudolf Thome * 2007: '' Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler'' – Director: Dani Levy * 2007: '' Nur ein kleines bisschen schwanger'' * 2007: '' Vollidiot'' – Director: Tobi Baumann * 2007: ' * 2007: ' * 2007: '' Pastewka'' – Season 3 (TV series) * 2009: '' Die Gräfin'' * 2009: '' Germany 09'' * 2011: ''

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter *Alexandre Bloch (1857–1919), French painter *Alfred Bloch ( ...

: Inschallah'' – Director: Thomas Jauch * 2013: '' Danni Lowinski'' (TV series) * 2014: '' Josephine Klick – Allein unter Cops'' * 2015: '' Nacht der Angst'' – Director: Gabriela Zerhau * 2019: ' – Director: Bora Dagtekin

Works

* ''Titos Brille'', Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2011 * ''Doitscha! Eine jüdische Mutter packt aus'', Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2015 * ''Das Meer und ich waren im besten Alter : Geschichten aus meinem Alltag'', Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2017. * ''Die jüdische Souffleuse''. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2018,

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Adriana Altaras official website

Ute Nicolai Berlin
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Altaras, Adriana 1960 births Living people Croatian Jews Yugoslav emigrants to West Germany Berlin University of the Arts alumni German stage actresses German directors German women writers Best Actress German Film Award winners Altaras family Actors from Konstanz Actresses from Baden-Württemberg