# Nina Hoss

Nina Hoss (German: ; born 7 July 1975) is a German stage, film, and television actress. She is known for her collaborations with director Christian Petzold in films such as Barbara (2012) and Phoenix (2014). Roles in other films include The White Masai (2005), Pelican Blood (2020), and Tár (2022). She has also starred in the American TV series Homeland (2014–2017), The Defeated (2020), and Jack Ryan (2022).
Hoss received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2013) and was also appointed a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France (2015).

## Early life and education

Hoss was born in Stuttgart, West Germany, in 1975. Her father, Willi Hoss [de], was a German trade unionist and politician (member of the Bundestag with The Greens, which he co-founded). Her mother, Heidemarie Rohweder [de], was an actress at Stuttgart National Theatre and later director of the Esslingen-based Württemberg State Playhouse (Württembergische Landesbühne Esslingen).
Hoss acted in radio plays at the age of seven and appeared on stage for the first time at the age of 14.
In 1997, Hoss graduated from the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, where she studied alongside Lars Eidinger, Fritzi Haberlandt, Devid Striesow, and Mark Waschke.

## Career

Hoss' first major success was the title role Rosemarie Nitribitt of Bernd Eichinger's A Girl Called Rosemary in 1996, a period drama (based on an actual scandal) set in the 1950s that looks back at the days of West Germany's postwar Wirtschaftswunder with, what a New York Times review calls a "curdling cynicism".
In 2000, Hoss was one of the Shooting Stars at the Berlinale. Her close collaboration with director Christian Petzold has been extremely successful: she won the 2003 Adolf Grimme Award for her role in his film Something to Remind Me and two years later the Adolf Grimme Award in Gold for Wolfsburg. Her performance of Yella, earned her the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2007 and the German Film Award in 2008. Another collaboration with Petzold, Barbara, in which Hoss plays a doctor exiled to an East German provincial backwater in 1980, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011 and the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012.
She later made her name in Hollywood playing a German BND agent in three seasons of the series Homeland (2014–2017). Hoss starred in the 2020 miniseries The Defeated, and was a series regular in season three of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan in 2022.
As a stage actress, Hoss was an ensemble member at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin from 1998 to 2013, where she appeared as Medea and as Franziska in Minna von Barnhelm (2005). In 2013, she joined the ensemble of the Schaubühne theatre in Berlin. There, she starred in three productions by director Thomas Ostermeier, including Lillian Hellman's 'Little Foxes' (2014) and the world premiere of Yasmina Reza's Bella Figura (2015). In his stage production (2017) of Didier Eribon's book Returning to Reims, her starring role drew autobiographically from her relationship with her father and his activist politics.
Hoss recorded a duet with the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers called "Europa geht durch mich" ("Europe goes through me") for the album Futurology which was released on 7 July 2014. Hoss features on the 2021 album Bright Magic by Public Service Broadcasting.
She stars in Todd Field’s Tár alongside Cate Blanchett as Sharon Goodnow, a violin player who is the partner of conductor Lydia Tár. In the film, Hoss plays the concertmaster of an orchestra.

## Other activities

Hoss was a jury member of the German Film Academy's First Steps awards for young filmmakers in 2000. She was a member of the juries of the Locarno International Film Festival in 2009, the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011, and the 73rd Venice International Film Festival in 2016.
She served as the sole judge of the 2012 Alfred Kerr Acting Prize at the Berliner Theatertreffen.
In 2018, she was part of the jury that awarded the first-ever Wortmeldungen Prize for Literature of the Crespo Foundation.

### Social and political commitment

Hoss supports the Make Poverty History campaign and fights female genital mutilation. In continuation of the work of her father she is committed as a goodwill ambassador of the state of Pará in Brazil against the destruction of the rain forest and to improve the living conditions of the indigenous people living there.
In 2017, she joined Cate Blanchett, Lars von Trier, and others, in signing a petition in support of Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov and against a crackdown on artistic expression in Russia.
Hoss served as an Alliance 90/The Greens delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2004 and 2010.

## Recognition and honours

Hoss has received numerous state honours, including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2013). She was appointed a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France (2015).
In August 2019 Hoss was invited to be a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
She has received glowing reviews by American critics for her performances in films.

## Personal life

Hoss married British music producer Alex Silva in 2015 after having been in a relationship with him for 12 years. They have no children.

## Filmography

Film and television roles :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1996 | And Nobody Weeps for Me [de] | Marilli Kosemund | |
| 1996 | A Girl Called Rosemary | Rosemarie Nitribitt | Television film |
| 1998 | Rider of the Flames | Marie Rätzer | |
| 1998 | Love Your Neighbour! | Liz | |
| 1999 | The Volcano | Marion von Kammer | |
| 2000 | Die Geiseln von Costa Rica | Kiki | Television film |
| 2001 | Toter Mann | Leyla | Television film |
| 2002 | Naked | Charlotte | |
| 2002 | Epstein's Night [de] | Paula | |
| 2002 | Emilia Galotti | Countess Orsina | Television film |
| 2003 | Wolfsburg | Laura Reiser | |
| 2003 | Leonce und Lena | Prinzessin Lena | Television film |
| 2005 | The White Masai | Carola Mamutelil geb. Lehmann | |
| 2006 | Atomised | Jane | |
| 2006 | Hannah | Hannah Morgan | |
| 2007 | Yella | Yella Fichte | |
| 2007 | The Heart Is a Dark Forest [de] | Marie | |
| 2008 | The Anarchist's Wife | Lenin | |
| 2008 | Jerichow | Laura | |
| 2008 | A Woman in Berlin | Anonyma | |
| 2010 | We Are the Night | Louise | |
| 2011 | Summer Window [de] | Juliane Kreisler | |
| 2012 | Barbara | Barbara | |
| 2013 | Gold | Emily Meyer | |
| 2014 | A Most Wanted Man | Irna Frey | |
| 2014 | Phoenix | Nelly Lenz | |
| 2014–2017 | Homeland | Astrid | Recurring role (seasons 4–6), 13 episodes |
| 2017 | Return to Montauk | Rebecca | |
| 2019 | The Audition | Anna Bronsky | |
| 2019 | Pelican Blood | Wiebke | |
| 2019 | Criminal (Germany) | Claudia | |
| 2020 | My Little Sister | Lisa | |
| 2020 | The Defeated | Elsie Garten | Miniseries |
| 2022 | The Contractor | Katia | |
| 2022 | Tár | Sharon Goodnow | |
| 2022 | Jack Ryan | President Alena Kovac | Main role (season 3) |
| 2023 | Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World | Doris Goethe | |
| 2024 | Langue Étrangère | | It was screened in Competition at the Berlinale on 19 February 2024. |
| 2025 | Cicadas | Anja | It will be screened in Panorama at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2025. |
| TBA | Hedda | TBA | Filming |

## Film awards and nominations

Hoss has won or been nominated for many awards, including:
* 2019 – Douglas Sirk Award at the Filmfest Hamburg
* 2023 – Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Virtuosos Award, for Tár; recognising "noteworthy performances in films which have elevated them into the national cinematic dialogue"
| Year | Nominated Work | Award | Category | Results |
| 1997 | A Girl Called Rosemarie | Goldene Kamera awards | Lilli Palmer Memorial Camera | Won |
| 1999 | The Volcano (Der Vulkan) | Montreal World Film Festival | Best Actress | Won |
| 2000 | | Berlin International Film Festival | Shooting Stars Award by European Film Promotion | Won |
| 2002 | Toter Mann | German Television Awards | Best Actress in a Movie Made for Television | Nominated |
| 2004 | Wolfsburg | German Film Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role | Nominated |
| 2004 | Wolfsburg | German Television Awards | Best Actress in a Movie Made for Television | Nominated |
| 2006 | The White Masai | Bavarian Film Awards | Best Actress (Darstellerpreis) | Won |
| 2007 | Yella | Bambi Awards | Best Actress - National | Nominated |
| 2007 | Yella | Berlin International Film Festival | Silver Bear for Best Actress | Won |
| 2007 | Yella | German Film Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role | Won |
| 2008 | Yella | Jupiter Award | Best German Actress | Won |
| 2012 | Barbara | Capri Hollywood Film Festival | Best Actress | Won |
| 2012 | Barbara | Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2012 | Barbara | European Film Awards | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2012 | Barbara | Indiewire Critics' Poll | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2012 | Barbara | Village Voice Film Poll | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2013 | Barbara | German Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress (Beste Darstellerin) | Nominated |
| 2013 | Barbara | International Cinephile Society Awards | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2014 | Fenster zum Sommer | Jupiter Awards | Best German TV Actress | Nominated |
| 2015 | Phoenix | Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2015 | Phoenix | German Film Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role | Nominated |
| 2015 | Phoenix | Indiewire Critics' Poll | Best Lead Actress | Nominated |
| 2015 | Phoenix | Jupiter Award | Best German Actress | Nominated |
| 2015 | Phoenix | Mons International Festival of Love Films | Best Actress | Won |
| 2015 | Phoenix | Seattle International Film Festival | Best Actress | Won |
| 2015 | Phoenix | Toronto Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Won |
| 2015 | Phoenix | Village Voice Film Poll | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2016 | Phoenix | Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2016 | Phoenix | International Cinephile Society Awards | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2016 | Phoenix | National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2016 | Phoenix | Seattle Film Critics Awards | Best Actress | Won |
| 2016 | Homeland | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated |
| 2019 | The Audition | San Sebastián International Film Festival | Silver Shell for Best Actress | Won |
| 2019 | The Audition | Stockholm Film Festival | Best Actress | Won |
| 2020 | The Audition | Días de Cine Awards | Best Foreign Actress | Nominated |
| 2020 | Pelican Blood | Guenter Rohrbach Filmpreis | Best Female Actor | Won |
| 2020 | My Little Sister | European Film Awards | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2020 | My Little Sister | German Screen Actors Awards | Best Leading Actress (Beste Hauptdarstellerin) | Nominated |
| 2021 | My Little Sister | Festival del Cinema Europeo | Best European Actor | Won |
| 2021 | The Audition | German Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress (Beste Darstellerin) | Won |
| 2021 | Pelican Blood | German Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress (Beste Darstellerin) | Won |
| 2022 | Tár | Florida Film Critics Circle | Best Supporting Actress | Won |
| 2022 | Tár | Gotham Independent Film Awards | Outstanding Supporting Performance | Nominated |
| 2023 | Tár | Dorian Awards | Supporting Film Performance of the Year | Nominated |
| 2023 | Tár | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Supporting Performance | Nominated |
| 2023 | Tár | London Film Critics' Circle | Supporting Actress of the Year | Nominated |
| 2023 | Tár | Minnesota Film Critics Alliance | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |
| 2023 | Tár | National Society of Film Critics | Best Supporting Actress | Runner-up |
| 2023 | Tár | North Dakota Film Society | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |
| 2023 | Tár | San Diego Film Critics Society | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |
| 2023 | Tár | San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |