Martina Gedeck

Martina Gedeck
Martina Gedeck, Berlin, 2007
Born	(1961-09-14) 14 September 1961 (age 55) Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
Residence	Berlin
Nationality	German
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1981–present
Awards	Deutscher Filmpreis (1997, 2002)
Website	www.martinagedeck.com

Martina Gedeck (German: [ˈɡeːdɛk]; born 14 September 1961) is a German actress. She came to broader, international attention due to her roles in films such as Mostly Martha (2001), The Lives of Others (2006), and The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008). She has won numerous awards, including the Deutscher Filmpreis in 1997 for Supporting Actress in Life is All You Get, and in 2002 for Actress in Mostly Martha.

Martina Gedeck was born 14 September 1961 in Munich, West Germany and grew up in Bavaria, the oldest of three girls. In 1971, her family moved to Berlin, where the eleven-year-old debuted as an actress in children's television shows.

After graduating school in 1981, she enrolled at the Free University of Berlin, majoring in German Literature and History. From 1982 to 1986, Martina attended acting classes at the Berlin University of the Arts. During that time, she made her stage debut at the Theater am Turm in Frankfurt. Gedeck performed regularly at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, and appeared in plays in Basel, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg.

In 1994, Gedeck gained the attention of film audiences with her performance in Sönke Wortmann's hit comedy Maybe... Maybe Not (Der bewegte Mann). In 1995, Gedeck received critical praise for her award-winning performance in the television drama Hölleisengretl (). In 1997, she furthered her reputation with her performance as Lilo in Wolfgang Becker's Life is All You Get (Das Leben ist eine Baustelle). In 1997, she received the German Film Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as a shy waitress in Helmut Dietl's Rossini – oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief (). By the end of the 1990s, Gedeck had established herself as "one of the most prolific character actresses in Germany" with ambitious feature films such as Jew-Boy Levi (Viehjud Levi) and television dramas like Dominik Graf's Deine besten Jahre. She garnered awards and nominations throughout this period of her career.