Carmen-Maja Antoni (born 23 August 1945) is a German actress.[2][3]

Carmen-Maja Antoni
Carmen-Maja Antoni (2013)
Born (1945-08-23) 23 August 1945 (age 79)
OccupationActress
SpouseMalte Antoni (1944–1998)[1]
Children
Parents
  • Pedro Antoni
  • Ursula Antoni-Orendt

Life

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Carmen-Maja Antoni was born into the chaos that followed the Second World War. Her father, Pedro Antoni, was an artist who left the family scene soon after she was born, leaving the baby with her mother, Ursula Antoni-Orendt, an "all-round artist" who later became a production director with the DFF, East Germany's national broadcasting corporation. Carmen-Maja made her camera debut at the age of eleven, as one of the three "Blue Streaks" in a Young Pioneer Cabaret programme on national television.[2]

By the time of the successful completion of her final school exams she had already negotiated her way through the admissions process for the Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg in the Babelsberg quarter of Potsdam. On joining, she became the academy's youngest student. As soon as she had completed her studies she was hired by Potsdam's Hans Otto Theatre. Still aged only 18, it was here that in 1964 she appeared as an exceptionally young "Grusche", the heroine in "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" by Bertolt Brecht. Her performance drew praise from Brecht's widow and from Brecht's old friend, the composer Paul Dessau. She later took the part of "Minna" in Lessings's "Minna von Barnhelm". By 1970 Carmen-Maja Antoni had moved on to the People's Theatre in the centre of Berlin.[2]

She has been a member of the Berliner Ensemble Theatre Company since 1976, and has recently (2005) appeared there as the lead protagonist in "Mother Courage and Her Children". Over the years she has played in a very large number of stage plays and films, and her unmistakable voice has also been heard in various radio plays. In addition, she teaches at the Konrad Wolf Film and Television Academy in Babelsberg.[2]

Antoni built her career in the German Democratic Republic during the decades of German division, but following reunification hers has become a well-known television presence across German-speaking central Europe thanks in part to her appearances in the long-running (1994–2013) ZDF crime drama series Rosa Roth in which she played Karin von Lomanski, a close colleague of Police Commissioner Rosa Roth.[2]

Filmography

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Radio plays

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Awards and prizes

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References

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  1. ^ Mangold, Ijoma [in German] (23 May 2013). ""Vielleicht war unsere Liebe ungewöhnlich": Für die Schauspielerin Carmen-Maja Antoni brach alles entzwei, als ihr Mann starb. Dann zogen ihre Kinder wieder zu ihr". Die Zeit. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ingrid Kirschey-Feix. "Antoni, Carmen-Maja * 23.8.1945 Schauspielerin". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  3. ^ Holde-Barbara Ulrich [in German] (12 January 2000). "Wer hat Angst vor der Antoni? Sie war ein Star, damals auf den Bühnen der DDR. Dann kam die Zeit der kleinen Fernsehrollen. Doch jetzt trumpft Carmen-Maja Antoni auf, in Claus Peymanns neuer Truppe am wiedereröffneten Berliner Ensemble". Die Zeit (online). Retrieved 4 January 2014.
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