Sandra Hüller: from provincial theatres to the Oscar awards ceremony

Listing all the prizes and awards Sandra Hüller has won would fill a whole page. Her dozens of accolades include the German and European Film Prizes, the César Award in France, and a Silver Bear from the Berlinale. Over the years many theatre critics have chosen her as their actress of the year. Now in 2024 she has been nominated for an Oscar for her role in the award-winning legal drama Anatomy of a Fall. The nomination marks the highpoint of her acting career so far, which has taken her from the small town of Suhl in Thuringia to Hollywood. 

Sandra Hüller starts her acting career on stage

Born in 1978, Hüller first dazzled audiences with her performances on stage. She learned her trade at the world-famous Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, and she soon picked up roles in German theatres, starting in Jena and Leipzig, followed by roles in Basel and at the Münchner Kammerspiele. Her talent was quickly recognised, and the “Theater heute” trade magazine named her as their young actress of the year in 2003. 

Awards for her debut in “Requiem” and the Oscar-nominated film “Toni Erdmann”

Three years later, the young actress made her debut on the big screen in the lead role in the award-winning film “Requiem”. She played a student suffering from hallucinations who ultimately agrees to an exorcism. Her performance garnered her a Silver Bear for best actress at the 2006 Berlinale. Her role in “Toni Erdmann” has also long since achieved legendary status, in which she played an ambitious business consultant. While working on a project in Romania, her father (played by Peter Simonischek) adopts the alter-ego of Toni Erdmann to meddle in her life, with many outrageously funny moments. The comedy was nominated for best international film at the 2017 Oscars.

National honours for Covid commitment

But Hüller hasn’t just won prizes for her performances as an actress. In 2020 the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented her with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her work during the pandemic. The nomination praised her for her “untiring efforts to draw attention to social ills, in the culture industry and also with regard those whose professional lives were put at risk.”

Oscar nomination for “Anatomy of a Fall”

In the legal drama “Anatomy of a Fall” directed by French director Justine Triet, Hüller plays a German writer who is suspected of her husband’s murder. The role has brought her numerous prizes and an Oscar nomination for best actress. The nomination means that Hüller, who lives in Leipzig, could open a new chapter in the history of German film, as she is the first German actress to be nominated in this category since the 1930s. Speaking to the German Press Agency after receiving the nomination, Hüller said, “What's happening now is just about as good as it gets as far as I’m concerned.”Also in the running for the Oscar are Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”), Annette Bening (“Nyad”) und Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), who won the ocar finally.