Born in Graz, Austria, in 1946, Peter Simonischek initially trained to be a dental technician at his father's business and studied architecture at Graz University of Technology before pursuing his passion for acting at the Graz University of Music and Performing Arts. After finishing his studies, he began his career at various theatres in St Gallen, Bern and DÜsseldorf and worked with directors such as Michael Haneke. In 1979 he joined the Berlin's SchaubÜhne theatre company, where he acted under the direction of Peter Stein, Klaus Michael GrÜber, Luc Bondy, Bob Wilson, Andrea Breth, and others.
In the 1980s, Peter Simonischek had already played in numerous films and television series, such as Axel Corti's television movies DAS EINE GLÜCK UND DAS ANDERE and HERRENJAHRE. He played the title role in Dieter Berner's LENZ ODER DIE FREIHEIT, a three-part historical drama about the Baden revolution. He made his film debut in Margarethe von Trotta's LOVE AND FEAR (with Fanny Ardant and Greta Scacchi). Leading and supporting roles in many TV movies and TV series followed, and he continued to act in feature films such as GEBÜRTIG (dir. Robert Schindel, Lukas Stepanik), THE MOUNTAIN (dir. Markus Imhoof), HIERANKL (dir. Hans Steinbichler), RUBY RED, SAPPHIRE BLUE and EMERALD GREEN (dir. Felix Fuchssteiner) and DER KLEINE DIKTATOR (dir. Dani Levy) and Götz Spielmann's OCTOBER NOVEMBER.
An accomplished stage actor, Peter Simonischek has been a member of Vienna's Burgtheater since 1999. He embodied the title role in Hofmannsthal's classic "Jedermann" ("Everyman") at the Salzburg Festival for eight years (2002-2009).
Maren Ade's second feature EVERYONE ELSE won two Silver Bears at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival: the Grand Jury Prize and Best Actress for Birgit Minichmayr. The modern relationship drama was released in over 25 countries and received three nominations for the German Film Award.
Her first feature THE FOREST FOR THE TREES won the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and a Best Film nomination for the German Film Award.
The touching drama was her graduation film from HFF University of Television and Film Munich.
Maren Ade also works as a producer for other filmmakers. In 2000, she founded the film production company Komplizen Film with producer Janine Jackowski.
Sandra Hüller made her feature film debut as epileptic Michaela Klinger in Hans- Christian Schmid's REQUIEM (2004). She received numerous Best Actress awards for her performance (Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, German Film Award, European Film Award nomination, German Film Critics Association).
Her other fillm credits include AMOUR FOU (dir. Jessica Hausner), MADONNAS (dir. Maria Speth), BROWNIAN MOVEMENT (dir. Nanouk Leopold), Jan Schomburg's LOSE MYSELF and ABOVE US ONLY SKY and Frauke Finsterwalder's FINSTER- WORLD, for which she won the German Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. An accomplished stage actress, Sandra Hüller has worked closely with Johan Simons at the Munich Kammerspiele and the Ruhrtriennale while she has continued to make films. In 2015 she was admitted to the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.
Born in Suhl, Germany, in 1978, Sandra Hüller took a theatre class while still in school and participated in theatre workshops. From 1996 to 2000 she studied at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art in Berlin, subsequently acting at several theatres in Jena, Leipzig, Basel, Berlin, Hanover, Munich and elsewhere. Her acclaimed performances earned her theater magazine Heute's prestigious Best Young Actress award in 2003. The magazine named her Best Actress in 2010 and 2013.