Veronica Ferres

Veronica Maria Cäcilia Ferres, born on 10 June 1965, is a German actress. She is widely recognized for her extensive work in film, television, and theatre, becoming a household name in Germany following a series of starring roles. Among her prominent performances, her 2007 portrayal of Sara Bender in Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie earned her the award for Best Actress at the Deutscher Fernsehpreis (German Television Awards).

Ferres was born in Solingen as the youngest child and only daughter of Katharina and Peter Ferres, a coal and potato merchant. She completed her Abitur at the Gymnasium Schwertstraße in Solingen. Following high school, she attended LMU Munich, where she completed a degree in German, theatre studies, and psychology.

Her career breakthrough in Germany came in 1996 with the title role in the comedy film The Superwife. She subsequently starred in prominent feature films such as Schtonk!, Rossini, Klimt alongside John Malkovich, and Saviors in the Night. She also played the female lead in Jedermann (Everyman), the traditional opening play of the Salzburg Festival. Her television work spans productions such as The Manns, Destined to Witness, The Miracle of Berlin, Marco W. – 247 Days in a Turkish Prison, and She Deserved It. Outside of acting, Ferres founded her own production company, Construction Film GmbH, in 2013.

Over the course of her career, Ferres expanded into international feature films. She appeared in Hector and the Search for Happiness, Casanova Variations, The Devil's Violinist, Pay the Ghost opposite Nicolas Cage, Werner Herzog's Salt and Fire, and The Comedian alongside Robert De Niro. Her work in comedic projects includes the cinema films DER NANNY and Unter Deutschen Bettern, as well as an episode of the series Jerks. Her involvement in Daniel Harrich's investigative feature film Meister Des Todes and its 2020 sequel Meister Des Todes 2 drew political attention, while the short film Malou in which she appeared reached the Academy Award shortlist for 2020.

Ferres's accolades include the Grimme-Preis, the German Television Award, the Bavarian TV Award, the Golden Camera Award, and the Bambi Award. Her later film credits feature titles such as Crisis, The Darker The Lake, Love, Weddings, and Other Disasters, Best Sellers, Every Breath You Take, Zero Contact, and Paradise Highway. In 2022, her work included roles in The Bricklayer, a new film adaptation of RED SONJA, an episode of Tatort, and the international series El Turco.

In 2023, Ferres joined the cast of the American feature film Unholy Trinity alongside Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson, the ZDFneo horror series Hameln, and the ZDF comedy series Andere Eltern. In her personal life, she was in a relationship with director Helmut Dietl from 1990 to 1999, collaborating on films like Late Show. She has a daughter, Lilly Krug, with ex-husband Martin Krug, to whom she was married from 2001 until 2010. She married Carsten Maschmeyer in 2014.