Senta Berger

Senta Berger was born in 1941 in Vienna, Austria to her father Josef Berger who was a musician and her mother Therese Berger, a school teacher. Senta and her father performed together when she was just four years old. She sang and her dad played the piano. At five years old, she took ballet lessons and at 14, Berger turned to acting taking private lessons. She left her private school education at 16.

In 1957, Berger was discovered by famous director Willi Forst and played a small role in a film. She was accepted to the Max Reinhardt Seminar.

In 1958, Berger was the youngest member at the Vienna Theater in Josefstadt. Director Bernhard Wicki and producer Artur Brauner sought after Senta producing the film The Good Soldier, by Heinz Rühmann. It succeeded and Brauner used her in several films.

In 1962, Berger moved to Hollywood and starred with Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Richard Harris, George Hamilton, Kirk Douglas, John Wayne and Yul Brynner.

Was offered a five-year-contract by a major Hollywood studio, but she decided to return to Europe for private reasons (1963).

In 1967, she returned to the silver screen with an Alain Delon film.

In 1968, Berger played in the three-part thriller Babeck by Herbert Reinecker.

In 1969 she returned to Europe and was seen during the 1970's in Italian productions of various genres.

1970 was her debut as Producer of her own company. As director she put her husband's film before the camera. Further, international successful of films of her production company have included The White Rose, The Nasty Girl and Mother Courage. In addition, Berger expanded her European career in France and Italy. The birth of her two sons, Simon (b.

1972) and Luca (b.

Played the "Buhlschaft" in the famous "Jedermann" play at the Salzburg Theatre Festival between 1974 and 1982.

Head of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival in 1977.

1979) prompted Berger to turn back to the theater.

Founded - together with Michael Verhoeven - the film production company "Sentana" to finance difficult projects like The White Rose (1982) or The Nasty Girl (1990).

Born to Josef Berger, a musician, and his wife Therese Jany, a teacher, her parents both died on 8 August (her father in 1984, her mother in 2001).

Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival in 1998.

Since February 2003, she has been President of the German Film Academy.

Her autobiography "Ich hab ja gewusst, dass ich fliegen kann" (I Knew That I Could Fly) became a bestseller (2006).