Senta Berger

Senta Verhoeven (née Berger; Austrian German: [ˈzɛnta ˈbɛʁɡɐ] German: [ˈzɛnta ˈbɛʁɡɐ]; born 13 May 1941) is an Austrian actress.

She received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film, and television; her awards include three Bambi Awards, two Romys, an Adolf Grimme Award, both a Deutscher Fernsehpreis and a Bayerischer Fernsehpreis, and a Goldene Kamera.

Early life

Berger was born in Vienna during the Second World War to musician Josef Berger(1902–1983) and teacher Therese Jany. She first appeared on stage at the age of four, when her father accompanied her singing on the piano. At the age of five, she started ballet lessons.

Berger also took private acting lessons. In 1957, she landed a small first role in The Unexcused Hour, one of the final films directed by Willi Forst. She was accepted to the Max Reinhardt Seminar, a Viennese acting school, but left shortly afterwards after accepting a film role without permission. In 1958, she became the youngest member of the Josefstadt Theatre in Vienna and appeared in productions of L'Œuf, Charley's Aunt, Much Ado About Nothing', and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

In 1966, Berger co-starred with Kirk Douglas in the film Cast a Giant Shadow. Berger played the role of Magda, a soldier in the Israeli army during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Also in 1966, the British film Our Man in Marrakesh, called Bang, Bang, You're Dead in the U.S., was released, starring Senta Berger opposite Tony Randall. In The Quiller Memorandum, a third film of hers released in 1966, she played opposite Max von Sydow and George Segal in the role of a German schoolteacher involved in neo-Nazi activity. In 1967, Berger acted in the pilot film for the Robert Wagner television series It Takes a Thief, which aired on the U.S. television network ABC on 9 January 1968. She reprised her role in the series in October 1969, in an episode in which her character was killed.

In 1970, Berger starred for the first time in a film produced by her own company and directed by her husband. Other internationally successful films made by their joint production company included, Die weiße Rose (1982), The Nasty Girl (1990) and My Mother's Courage [de] (1995). In 1971, Berger participated in the media campaign "We've had abortions!" launched by German feminist Alice Schwarzer with a cover story in the Stern political magazine. In 1972, she also campaigned for Willy Brandt's Social Democratic Party.

Following the birth of her first son, Berger soon returned to theatre work. She played at the Burgtheater in Vienna, at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, and at the Schiller Theater in Berlin. Between 1974 and 1982, she played the Buhlschaft in the play Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival with Curd Jürgens and Maximilian Schell. She also acted alongside Schell and James Coburn in a supporting role in the acclaimed war film Cross of Iron (1977). In 1977, she was head of the jury at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival. Twenty-one years later, she was part of the jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1985 and 1986, Berger started a comeback for German-speaking audiences in the TV serial Kir Royal. Further serial hits followed, including Die schnelle Gerdi (The Fast Gerdi, 1989–2002), in which she played a taxi driver. In the same year, she also began a singing career. From 2003 to 2010, Berger was president of the German Film Academy, which seeks to support the careers of actors and actresses in Germany and across Europe. Since 2005, the academy assigns the annual German Film Awards, or Lolas.

In 2005 she appeared in the film, Einmal so wie ich will (Once According to My Will), as a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage, who finds love on holiday, but turns her back on the relationship. In 2016, she played one of the leading roles in the film Welcome to Germany, written and directed by her son Simon Verhoeven. The film grossed more than US$20 million, making it the most successful German picture of the year. It also won numerous awards, among them the Deutscher Filmpreis, the peace award Friedenspreis des deutschen Films, and was nominated for a European Film Award for Best Comedy.

She played the role of Doctor Eva Maria Prohacek in the popular German crime television series Unter Verdacht (Under Suspicion) from 2002 till March 2020, when she retired from the role.

In June 2023, her romantic dramedy Remember Me [de] (Weißt du noch; screenplay by Martin Rauhaus, directed by Rainer Kaufmann) premiered at the 40th Filmfest München.

For her second screen collaboration with her writer/director son Simon Verhoeven will be in the bestseller adaptation of Joachim Meyerhoff's Ach, diese Lücke, diese entsetzliche Lücke. Berger is playing the female lead in this film, which will be released by Warner Bros. in 2026.

In the spring of 2006, Berger's autobiography was published in Germany: Ich habe ja gewußt, daß ich fliegen kann (I Knew that I Could Fly). Among her memories of Hollywood are a less-than-subtle attempt by Darryl Zanuck to get her on his casting couch, and of all the shallow people she met in Hollywood.

Personal life

Berger was married to German film director Michael Verhoeven from 1966 until his death in 2024; their sons are actor-director Simon Verhoeven (born 1972) and actor/producer Luca Verhoeven (born 1979). She lives in Germany.