Iris Berben

About Iris Berben

Iris Renate Dorothea Berben (pronounced [ˈiːʁɪs ˈbɛʁbm̩] ⓘ, born 12 August 1950) is a German actress.

Biography
Berben was born in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia. She grew up in Hamburg, where her parents ran a restaurant.[1]

Berben has appeared in about 150 film and television productions since 1969. Berben has played leading roles in a large number of German television productions, including the 1970s sitcom Zwei himmlische Töchter and the 1980s comedy show Sketchup with Diether Krebs. One of her best-known roles is the title character, a no-nonsense police commissioner, in the long-running crime series Rosa Roth between 1994 and 2013. Her film roles include Sergio Corbucci's Western Compañeros (1970) with Franco Nero, the adaptation of Thomas Mann's Die Buddenbrooks (2008), and the barmaid Petra in the sport comedy Eddie the Eagle (2016).

After the Six-Day War in 1967, she traveled to Israel, and afterwards became the partner of the Israeli singer Abi Ofarim. Since then, she has been a supporter of Israel and has also repeatedly campaigned against antisemitism. She had a son, Oliver, in 1971, but never revealed the identity of the father.[1]

In 2010, together with Bruno Ganz, Berben was elected president of the German Film Academy. She served as an SPD delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017.[2]