Alexandra Maria Lara Movies and Career Information

Alexandra Maria Lara (born Alexandra Plătăreanu; November 12, 1978) is a Romanian-born German actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of historical and crime films. Lara is best known for her roles in Control (2007), Youth Without Youth (2007), Nackt (2002), Downfall (2004), About the Looking for and the Finding of Love (2005), and The Reader (2008). Born in Bucharest, Lara is the only child of Valentin Plătăreanu, a Bucharest actor, and his wife, Doina, a homemaker. When she was four (in 1983) her family decided to flee to West Germany to escape Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime in Communist Romania. Although the family had originally planned to emigrate to Canada, they settled down in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, before eventually moving to Berlin. After graduating at the Französisches Gymnasium Berlin in 1997, Lara went on studying acting under the management of her father, co-founder of the Theaterwerkstatt Charlottenburg, until 2000. By age sixteen she was already playing lead roles in various television dramas. Since then her career has developed and she has become a respected film actress. Her most famous role to date, which has resulted in