Alexandra Maria Lara

Alexandra Maria Lara (born Alexandra Plătăreanu; November 12, 1978) is a Romanian-born German actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of historical and crime films. Lara is best known for her roles in Control (2007), Youth Without Youth (2007), Nackt(2002), Downfall (2004), About the Looking for and the Finding of Love (2005), and The Reader (2008).

Born in Bucharest, Lara is the only child of Valentin Plătăreanu, a Bucharest actor, and his wife, Doina, a homemaker. When she was four (in 1983) her family decided to flee to West Germany to escape Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime in Communist Romania. Although the family had originally planned to emigrate to Canada, they settled down in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, before eventually moving to Berlin. After graduating at the Französisches Gymnasium Berlin in 1997, Lara went on studying acting under the management of her father, co-founder of the Theaterwerkstatt Charlottenburg, until 2000.

Career
By age sixteen she was already playing lead roles in various television dramas. Since then her career has developed and she has become a respected film actress. Her most famous role to date, which has resulted in international recognition, is as Traudl Junge, Adolf Hitler's secretary, in the Oscar-nominated 2004 film Der Untergang (Downfall). Due to her convincing performance in Der Untergang, Francis Ford Coppola wrote her a letter and gave her a leading role in Youth Without Youth (2007). She played a lead role in Greek director Theo Angelopoulos's 2008 film The Dust of Time, opposite Irène Jacob and Bruno Ganz. Speaking French fluently, she also appeared in several French productions, including Napoléon andl L'Affaire Farewell. More recently, she appeared in The Reader and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex which were both nominated for the 81st Academy Awards (best picture and best foreign language film, respectively).

Filmography

 * Sperling und der falsche Freund (1997)
 * Südsee, eigene Insel (1999)
 * Vertrauen ist alles (2000)
 * Fisimatenten (2000)
 * Der Tunnel (2001)
 * Honolulu (2001)
 * Leo und Claire (2001)
 * Liebe und Verrat (2002, TV)
 * Was nicht passt, wird passend gemacht (2002)
 * 99 Euro Films (2002)
 * Napoléon (2002)
 * Doctor Zhivago (2002)
 * Schleudertrauma (2002)
 * Nackt (2002)
 * Trenck (2003)
 * Der Wunschbaum (2004)
 * Leise Krieger (2004)
 * Der Untergang (The Downfall) (2004)
 * Cowgirl (2004)
 * Offset (2005)
 * Der Fischer und seine Frau (2005)
 * Vom Suchen und Finden der Liebe (2005)
 * Wo ist Fred? (2006)
 * I Really Hate My Job (2007)
 * Control (2007)
 * The Company (2007)
 * Youth Without Youth (2007)
 * The City of Your Final Destination (2008)
 * Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
 * Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)
 * The Dust of Time (2008)
 * The Reader (2008)
 * Hinter Kaifeck (Kaifeck Murder) (2009)
 * L'affaire Farewell (2009)
 * City of Life (2009)
 * The Nazi Officer's Wife] (2010)
 * Quartier lointain (2010)