Lea van Acken

Lea van Acken was born on 20 February 1999 in Lübeck, Schleswig‑Holstein, Germany. From an early age she displayed a keen interest in performing arts, enrolling in local theatre workshops while still in primary school. Her first professional appearance came in 2011 when she stepped onto the stage of the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg, a historic open‑air venue known for its spectacular dramatizations of the Winnetou novels. The experience gave her valuable exposure to live audiences and marked the beginning of a career that would quickly transition from the stage to the screen. During those formative years, van Acken balanced her schooling with intensive acting classes, honing a craft that would soon attract the attention of German film directors. By the time she turned fifteen, she had already secured representation with the agency Players, positioning herself for larger‑scale projects. In 2014 van Acken delivered a breakout performance as the lead in Dietrich Brüggemann’s critically acclaimed drama Stations of the Cross. The film, which won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, cast her as a devout Catholic teenager navigating a rigid, fanatic family, a role that showcased her capacity for emotional depth and nuanced vulnerability. The following year she ventured into international television, appearing in a minor but pivotal part in season 5 of the American series Homeland, filmed on location in Germany. Her portrayal of Anne Frank in the 2016 German adaptation Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank further cemented her reputation as a serious actress capable of embodying historic figures with sensitivity. Most recently, van Acken joined the ensemble of the Netflix phenomenon Dark, playing Silja Tiedemann, a character whose mysterious lineage ties together multiple timelines. Her consistent selection of complex, often morally ambiguous roles has earned her a reputation as one of Germany’s most promising young talents, and industry observers anticipate that she will continue to expand her repertoire across both European cinema and global streaming platforms.