# Karoline Herfurth

Karoline Herfurth (German: ; born 22 May 1984) is a German actress.

## Life and career

Herfurth was born in East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of a psychologist mother and a geriatric nurse practitioner father. Her parents divorced when she was two years old. She grew up in Berlin with a brother and five half-brothers and -sisters. She went to a Waldorf school in Berlin and graduated from Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. She learned to play the recorder and studied sociology and political sciences.

## Career

Herfurth had her first role in a TV-series at age ten, and her first part in a movie in 2000, when she was fifteen. She has held several parts as a teenager in German movies such as Mädchen, Mädchen (2001) and Big Girls don't cry (2002), and leading-parts both in TV productions and independent German films. For her part as Lilli Richter in Caroline Link's film A Year ago in Winter, she received the Bavarian Film-Award for best young actress in 2009.
Herfurth gave her international debut in 2006 in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. In this adaptation of Patrick Süskind's best-selling novel Das Parfum she played the "Plum Girl", the first victim of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. In 2008, she co-starred with Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes in the Academy-Award-Best-Picture-nominee The Reader.
She directed her first feature-length film SMS für Dich in 2016.

## Personal life

Herfurth has spoken out opposing the right-wing Pegida movement in Germany.

## Filmography

Film and television :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2000 | Küss mich, Frosch | Mary | |
| 2000 | Crazy | Anna | |
| 2001 | Mädchen, Mädchen | Lena | titled Girls on Top in USA |
| 2002 | Big Girls Don't Cry | Steffi | |
| 2003 | Mein Name ist Bach | Prinzessin Amalie | |
| 2004 | Anemonenherz | | (short) |
| 2004 | Mädchen, Mädchen 2 - Loft oder Liebe | Lena | titled Girls on Top 2 in USA |
| 2005 | Offside | Hayat | |
| 2006 | Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | The Plum Girl | |
| 2007 | Peer Gynt | Solvejg | TV |
| 2007 | Pornorama | Luzi | |
| 2008 | A Year Ago in Winter | Lilli Richter | |
| 2008 | The Reader | Marthe | |
| 2009 | Berlin 36 | Gretel Bergmann | |
| 2010 | Vincent Wants to Sea | Marie | |
| 2010 | We Are the Night | Lena | |
| 2010 | So wie wir hier zusammen sind | Hilde | (short) |
| 2011 | Promising the Moon [de] | Young Marga Baumanis | |
| 2011 | Fortress [de] | Claudia | |
| 2012 | Zettl [de] | Verena | |
| 2012 | Errors of the Human Body | Rebekka | |
| 2013 | Passion | Dani | |
| 2013 | Fack ju Göhte | Lisi Schnabelstedt | |
| 2014 | The Pasta Detectives [de] | Rico's mother Tanja Doretti | |
| 2015 | Traumfrauen | Hannah Reimann | |
| 2015 | The Pasta Detectives 2 [de] | Rico's mother Tanja Doretti | |
| 2015 | Fack ju Göhte 2 | Lisi Schnabelstedt | |
| 2015 | Ghosthunters on Icy Trails | Hopkins | |
| 2016 | Rico, Oskar and the Mysterious Stone [de] | Rico's mother Tanja Doretti | |
| 2016 | SMS für Dich | Clara | Also director |
| 2017 | You Are Wanted | Lena Arandt | TV series |
| 2018 | The Little Witch [de] | The Little Witch | |
| 2018 | Beat | Emilia | TV series |
| 2019 | Sweethearts | Franny | Also director |
| 2019 | The Perfect Secret [de] | Carlotta Keschwari | |
| 2022 | Wunderschön | Sonja | Also director |
| 2022 | Just Something Nice | Karla | Also director |
| 2024 | A Million Minutes | Vera Küper | |
| 2025 | Wunderschöner | Sonja | Also director |