Jessica Schwarz

Jessica Schwarz is a German actress who was born on May 5, 1977. Outside of Germany, she is recognized for her performance in the film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, as well as her role as Tony Buddenbrook in the 2008 film adaptation of Thomas Mann's novel Buddenbrooks.

Schwarz was born in Erbach im Odenwald and grew up in the small town of Michelstadt, Germany. She first gained public attention in 1993 after winning a contest hosted by the German teen magazine Bravo. Following her contest win, she worked as a model and served as a VJ for the music channel VIVA.

Schwarz transitioned into acting in 2000, while continuing to occasionally host events, such as the German Film Award in 2004. Early in her acting career, she starred in feature films and television productions including No Regrets in 2001, the television film Friends of Friends in 2002, Play It Loud! in 2003, and Off Beat in 2004. During this period, she also appeared in television films such as Cold Spring and Quito.

Throughout the mid-to-late 2000s, Schwarz maintained a busy film schedule. Her credits from this era include Wild Chicks, The Red Cockatoo, Lulu, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Nothing but Ghosts, and Impossibly Yours, all released in 2006. She subsequently appeared in Wild Chicks in Love and Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps in 2007, followed by Buddenbrooks in 2008. In 2009, she appeared in The Wild Chicks and Life, The Door, and portrayed Romy Schneider in the television film Romy.

Schwarz's career continued with various film and television roles in the 2010s. Her project history includes Lautlose Morde, Der Mann der über Autos sprang, and The Day I Was Not Born in 2010, followed by Death of a Superhero and When Santa Fell to Earth in 2011. She went on to appear in Heiter bis Wolkig, Baron on the Cannonball, and Jesus Loves Me in 2012, Adieu Paris in 2013, Der Koch in 2014, and both Zweimal zweites Leben and Freddy/Eddy in 2016. In 2020, she appeared in Biohackers, followed by Over & Out in 2022 and Das Kanu des Manitu in 2025.

Over the course of her career, Schwarz has received several honors for her acting work. She was awarded the New Faces Award for Best Actress in 2002 for No Regrets, and received the Adolf Grimme Award in Fiction/Entertainment in 2003 for her performance in The Friends of the Friends. She earned the Bavarian Film Award for Best Actress in 2004 for Off Beat, and was honored with a Bambi Award in 2009 for her role in Romy.

In her personal life, Schwarz was in a five-year relationship with actor Daniel Brühl, which ended in 2006. She currently resides in Berlin.