Barbara Sukowa as Katarina Jones

Barbara Sukowa stars as Dr Katarina Jones, the leader of the Splinter project group – a team of scientists determined to reset time and stop the deadly plague.

Barbara Sukowa started as a stage actress in major German theatres. She performed as Marion in Büchner’s Danton’s Death, and a number of Shakespearian roles: Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Rosalind in As You Like It, and Desdemona in Othello. Sukowa also performed in Ibsen’s The Master Builder and as The Marquise de Merteuil in Heiner Mueller’s Quartett at the Salzburg Festival. Performing in English, the actress worked on a production of The Cherry Orchard (2000) in New Jersey and in Arthur Kopit’s Because He Can.

Sukowa’s cinematic breakthrough came with her portrayal of Mieze in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), which earned her the German Best Young Actress Award. Her award-winning performances did not end there. She went on to win a German Film Awards (Gold) award for her performance in title role in Fassbinder’s Lola. Her performance in Margarethe von Trotta’s film Die bleierne Zeit (1981) earned her the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival. She also received a Best Actress Award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival for her work in von Trotta’s film Rosa Luxemburg. Sukowa also earned the Best Actress Award at the Montreal World Film Festival for her role in the film The Invention of the Curried Sausage by Ulla Wagner. She is also a three-time winner at the prestigious Bavarian Film Award as Best Actress for her roles in In the Name of Innocence (1997), Vision –from the life of Hildegard von Bingen (2010), and Hannah Arendt (2013).

Amongst all the aforementioned achievements, Sukowa is the lead singer of the Band the X-Patsys, which she founded with visual artists Jon Kessler and Robert Longo. The band performed in New York (Highline ballroom, Poisson Rouge), Berlin, and in 2011 in Paris at the Espace Cardin. The band’s CD, Devouring Time: Barbara Sukowa and the X-Patsys, was chosen in Germany on the “List of Best New Releases.”

Barbara Sukowa in 12 Monkeys: Work Is Intellectually Fascinating and Emotionally Gratifying

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