Sunnyi Melles

Sunnyi Melles, born on 7 October 1958 in Luxembourg, is a Swiss‑Hungarian actress who has built a distinguished career across German‑language television and cinema. The only daughter of Austrian orchestra conductor Carl Melles and Hungarian noblewoman Judith von Rohonczy, herself the daughter of actress Ila Lóth, Sunnyi was immersed in a culturally rich environment that blended music, aristocracy, and the performing arts. She made her screen debut in the early 1980s, appearing as Alice Hollerer in the popular German crime series Derrick (1981) and quickly secured a series of varied roles, from the youthful Charlotte in the TV film Die Leidenschaftlichen (1982) to the iconic Gretchen opposite Helmut Griem in Faust (1988). Throughout the 1990s and 2000s she remained a familiar face in television dramas, notably portraying Norma Desmond in the miniseries Mit den Clowns kamen die Tränen (1990) and Ottilie Schadt in Hotel Adlon: A Family Saga (2013). Her later work includes appearances in internationally recognized productions such as Triangle of Sadness (2022) and the upcoming biopic Becoming Karl Lagerfeld (2024), where she embodies the legendary actress Marlene Dietrich. In 1993 she married Prince Peter of Sayn‑Wittgenstein‑Sayn, integrating into one of Germany’s historic noble families; the couple have two children, Prince Constantin Victor Ludwig (born 1994) and Princess Leonille Elisabeth Judith Maria Anna (born 1996). Sunnyi’s contributions were formally recognized in 2024 when she received the Deutscher Fernsehpreis for Best Actress for her role in Die Zweiflers. Beyond her on‑screen achievements, Sunnyi has been involved in various charitable initiatives, supporting cultural preservation projects across Central Europe. Her multilingual background—fluent in German, French, Hungarian and English—has allowed her to navigate diverse roles and reach audiences beyond the German‑speaking world. Today she continues to act, blending her aristocratic heritage with a robust body of work that spans over four decades.