Angela Winkler: Movies & Box Office

Angela Winkler is a renowned German actress whose career spans over five decades, marked by a fearless selection of challenging roles on both stage and screen. Born on 22 January 1944 in the small town of Templin, she first pursued a practical education as a medical technologist in Stuttgart before her passion for performance led her to Munich, where she studied acting with Ernst Fritz Fürbringer. Her professional debut came in 1967 at the theater in Kassel, and just two years later she captured critical attention as the lead in Peter Fleischmann’s provocative film Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern. Impressed by her intensity, director Peter Stein invited her to join the Berliner Schaubühne, where she became a fixture from 1971 to 1978, delivering powerful performances in productions ranging from Chekhov to Brecht. The breakthrough moment in cinema arrived with The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1975), directed by Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta, earning her the prestigious Filmband in Gold and cementing her status as a star of the New German Cinema. International acclaim followed when she portrayed the anguished mother of Oskar Matzerath in Schlöndorff’s Oscar‑winning adaptation The Tin Drum (1979), a role that highlighted her capacity for deep emotional resonance. Throughout the ensuing decades she continued to alternate between film and theatre, appearing in works such as Benny’s Video (1992), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), and the groundbreaking German‑language Netflix series Dark (2017). More recent highlights include her haunting performance as Miss Tanner in Luca Guadagnino’s re‑imagining of Suspiria (2018) and a role in Sisi & I (2023). Off‑screen, Winkler shares a long‑term partnership with sculptor Wiegand Wittig and is mother to four children, including actress Nele Wittig, who lives with Down’s syndrome and performs with the Berlin ensemble RambaZamba. Her enduring dedication to both the craft and its community has earned her numerous honors, such as the German Film Award and the Ibsen Centennial Commemoration Award, confirming her place as one of Germany’s most influential acting talents.