MALA emde is considered one of the most vibrant and versatile actresses of her generation. most recently, she starred in ido fluk’s köln 75, which celebrated its world premiere at the 2025 berlinale, received multiple awards, and has since screened at numerous international festivals. in 2025, she was honored with the prestigious bambi award. she has also received the german acting award and was nominated for the german film award.
born in 1996, mala emde gained early experience in front of the camera. she first attracted major attention for her performance in the docudrama my daughter anne frank (2014), for which she received the bavarian film award for best young actress. this was followed by cinema productions such as offline – the life is no bonus level (2016), 303 (2018), and we kill stella (2017).
from 2016 to 2020, she studied acting at the renowned ernst busch academy of dramatic arts in berlin as well as at lamda in london. during this time, she appeared in productions including charité (2019), brecht, jan-ole gerster’s lara, and the international series shadowplay (2020).
with and tomorrow the entire world (directed by julia von heinz), which premiered in competition at the venice international film festival, she received the bisato d’oro award from independent film critics. her subsequent film skin deep (2023) also premiered in venice. in autumn 2023, the blind woman (die mittagsfrau), in which she played the lead role, was released in cinemas.
from 2021 until the end of 2024, mala emde was a permanent ensemble member at theater basel. at the same time, she played the title role in the series oh hell (2022/23).
her recent work includes any other night, the netflix production we are one, and the tv movie sommer auf asphalt. she also stars in marc rothemund’s das gewisse etwas, scheduled for theatrical release in 2026.
