Angela Winkler

Angela Winkler was born in 1944 and in 1964 began her acting studies in Stuttgart, completing them after just three months. She then took a few acting lessons with Ernst Fritz Fürbringer and Hanna Burgwitz in Munich. Her first engagement was at the Westphalian State Theatre in Castrop-Rauxel. From 1971 to 1978 she was a member of the ensemble of the Schaubühne Berlin; since then she has worked as a freelance actor.

In theatre, Angela Winkler has worked with directors including Peter Stein, Klaus Michael Grüber, Luc Bondy, Peter Zadek, Robert Wilson, Karin Henkel, Christoph Schlingensief, Romeo Castellucci and Simon Stone. She appeared in Zadek’s productions of Chekhov’s Ivanov (1990) and The Cherry Orchard (1996) and in Ibsen’s Rosmersholm (2000) at the Vienna Burgtheater; in 1999 she took on the title role in Zadek’s production of Hamlet at the Wiener Festwochen.

Her productions with Robert Wilson at the Berliner Ensemble include Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, Brecht’s Die Dreigroschenoper and Lulu, after Frank Wedekind. From 2017 to 2021 she toured worldwide in his staging of Oedipus (an Italian co-production), including to the Epidaurus Festival. In 2021 she performed at the Schaubühne Berlin alongside Joachim Meyerhoff in Jan Bosse’s dramatization and staging of Christian Kracht’s novel Eurotrash.

In 1969 Angela Winkler made her film debut in Peter Fleischmann’s Hunting Scenes from Bavaria. In 1975 she starred as the title role in Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta’s film of Heinrich Böll’s novel The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum. Numerous other film roles followed, including in Peter Handke’s The Left-Handed Woman (1977) and in Germany in Autumn (1978). In 1979 she played the mother of Oskar Matzerath in Schlöndorff’s film of Günter Grass’s novel The Tin Drum, which won awards including the Golden Palm and an Oscar. Other important films have included Andrzej Wajda’s Danton with Gérard Depardieu, Margarethe von Trotta’s Sheer Madness (1983), Michael Haneke’s Benny’s Video (1992), Olivier Assayas’s Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), Matti Geschonneck’s In Times of Fading Light (2017), Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria (2018) alongside Tilda Swinton, and Frauke Finsterwalder’s Sisi & I (2023). She has also appeared in numerous television films and in the acclaimed Netflix series Dark.

Angela Winkler has performed as a singer with Max Raabe, Thomas Quasthoff and Udo Samel in a programme of folksongs and in 2011 released her debut album Ich liebe dich, kann ich nicht sagen, which included chansons by Barbara and by Édith Piaf and songs by Sophie Hunger and Element of Crime. In March 2025 she presented a new recital programme at the St Pauli Theatre in Hamburg.

Angela Winkler has won numerous awards, including the German Film Award (1976) for best actress (for The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum), the Kainz Medal (1996) for the role of Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, the Gertrud Eysoldt Ring (2000) for the role of Rebecca West in Rosmersholm and the Deutscher Schauspielpreis (2019) for the role of Irina in Three Sisters.

Angela Winkler made her Salzburg Festival debut in 1986 in the world premiere of Handke’s translation of Aeschylus’ Prometheus, gefesselt (Prometheus Bound) in Klaus Michael Grüber’s production. In 2021 and 2022 she performed here as Jedermann’s Mother in Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann, alongside Lars Eidinger.