Alexandra Maria Lara

Alexandra Maria Lara, born Alexandra Maria Plătăreanu on November 12, 1978, is a Romanian-German actress. She is known internationally for her performances in notable feature films such as Downfall (2004), Control (2007), Youth Without Youth (2007), The Reader (2008), Rush (2013), and Geostorm (2017).

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Lara is the only child of Doina and Valentin Plătăreanu, an actor and director who directed productions such as Much Ado About Nothing and Hernani. In 1983, her family left Romania to emigrate to West Germany. Although they initially intended to move to Canada, they settled in Freiburg im Breisgau before eventually relocating to West Berlin, where Lara became fluent in German.

Lara began her acting career early, securing lead roles in various television dramas by the age of sixteen. Her breakthrough international role came in 2004 when she played Traudl Junge, Adolf Hitler's secretary, in the Academy Award-nominated film Downfall. Impressed by her performance in the film, director Francis Ford Coppola personally wrote her a letter and cast her in a leading role in his 2007 film Youth Without Youth.

Throughout her career, Lara has taken part in a variety of international and multi-language projects. In 2007, she portrayed Belgian journalist Annik Honoré in the biographical film Control. She has also acted in several French productions, including the miniseries Napoléon and the film L'Affaire Farewell. Her portfolio includes appearances in Der Baader Meinhof Komplex and The Reader, both of which received nominations at the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture, respectively.

In addition to her film roles, Lara has been recognized within the international film industry. In 2008, she served as a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. She later collaborated with her husband, actor Sam Riley, in projects such as Suite Française and Ben Wheatley's 2018 film Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, in which they played an on-screen couple.

From 2022 to 2025, Lara expanded her industry leadership by serving alongside Florian Gallenberger as co-president of the Deutsche Filmakademie. On a personal level, she married Sam Riley in August 2009 after meeting him on the set of Control, and the couple welcomed their first child, a son, in January 2014.