Michaela May (born ''Gertraud Elisabeth Berta Franziska Mittermayr''; 18 March 1952) is a German

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and

television actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Life and career

May, who was born and raised in Munich, took ballet lessons from the age of seven, and as a ten-year-old she was on stage in a children's ballet. As Gertraud Mittermayr, she had her screen debut in 1965 in ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two Volume (bibliography), volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans ...

'' under

Géza von Radványi Géza von Radványi (born Géza Grosschmid; 26 September 1907 – 27 November 1986) was a Hungarian film director, cinematographer, producer and writer. Biography Born Géza Grosschmid, he took the name Radványi from his paternal grandmother ...

. After graduating from high school, she completed an apprenticeship as a kindergarten teacher and also attended an acting school. In 1967 she appeared in a television series as a dancer. On the advice of her agency, she has appeared under the stage name Michaela May since the film ''Flucht ohne Weg'' (1967). "Michaela" is a given name of her choice that she liked, and "May" is part of her real name. She then worked as an actress at the theater. In 1970 she made her stage debut at the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm 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 ...

, and in 1972, she appeared there in Sauvajon's play ''A Handful of Nettles''. In Munich, she played in the

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

''Gaslicht'' in the comedy in the Bayerischer Hof. With the successful television series ''Munich Stories'' (1974), she established herself as a busy serial actress. She also became known through the

Eurocheque The Eurocheque was a type of cheque used in Europe that was accepted across national borders and which could be written in a variety of currencies. Eurocheques were introduced in 1969 as an alternative to the traveller's cheque and for internatio ...

card advertising that came up around 1975, in which her name could be found on oversized check cards in all post and bank branches. In 1980, May married the lawyer Jack Schiffer, with whom she has two daughters —

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

(* 1982) and Lilian Schiffer (* 1988), both in whom are also actresses. In 2006, May married her second husband, the director Bernd Schadewald. She lives in Munich.

Other work

May has been a guardian angel and ambassador for

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...

patients since 1990. In 2014, she became an honorary member of the patient organization Mukoviszidose e. V. On her homepage, she calls for sponsorships and donations for the

SOS Children's Villages SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental, nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria. The organization provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to families facing difficultie ...

at readings and events. The actress has supported

Welthungerhilfe Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V. – or Welthungerhilfe (; literally: World Hunger Help) for short – is a German non-denominational and politically independent non-profit and non-governmental aid agency working in the fields of development coop ...

for several years and has visited aid organization projects in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in 2010 and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

in 2016. Since 2019, May, together with her actor colleague

Elmar Wepper Elmar Wepper (16 April 1944 – 31 October 2023) was a German actor. Life and career Elmar Wepper was born in Augsburg and grew up in Munich. After his ''Abitur'', he studied German language and literature and theatre studies. His television cr ...

, has been the patron of the non-profit organization Retla e.V., which is active in helping the elderly. There, she is involved in the "Telephone Angel" campaign against the loneliness of older people in the

Corona crisis The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (1965) * ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

'' (1965) * ' (1967, TV miniseries) * ''

Dead Body on Broadway ''Dead Body on Broadway'' () is a 1969 German thriller film directed by Harald Reinl and starring George Nader, Heinz Weiss and Heidy Bohlen. It is the final entry in the series of films portraying FBI agent Jerry Cotton.Blake, Deal, p. 61f ...

'' (1969) * ' (1983) * ' (1995, TV film) * ''

Das merkwürdige Verhalten geschlechtsreifer Großstädter zur Paarungszeit ''Das merkwürdige Verhalten geschlechtsreifer Großstädter zur Paarungszeit'' (English title – ''Love Scenes from Planet Earth'') is a 1998 German romantic comedy film. It earned the director Marc Rothemund a Bavarian Film Award for "Be ...

'' (1998) * ''Hochzeit zu viert'' (2001, TV film) * ''Unterwegs mit Elsa'' (2013) * ' (2015)

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1952 births Living people German film actresses German television actresses 20th-century German actresses 21st-century German actresses Actresses from Munich {{Germany-screen-actor-stub