Gabriela-Maria Schmeide

Voted Most Promising Actress in 1992 for her contributions to the stage, German starlet Gabriela Maria Schmeide was only getting warmed up. Though she didn't make her screen debut until 2000, she wasted no time in earning her audience's attention. She played the title character in the TV movie "Policewoman," a gritty, documentary-style crime drama that garnered several nominations at the German Film Awards the following year and won the Adolf Grimme Award in Gold for fiction. In 2002, she reteamed with her "Policewoman" co-star Axel Prahl for the introspective drama "Grill Point," which received widespread acclaim on the festival circuit. Schmeide shared an award for Best Ensemble from the Chicago international Film Festival with the rest of the "Grill Point" cast. Despite her auspicious big screen debut, television remained Schmeide's primary medium. She shined in dramas like "Leben Wäre Schön," for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the German Television Awards in 2004. Perhaps her most memorable excursion into film was under the direction of auteur Michael Heneke. His intense period drama "The White Ribbon" cast Schmeide as an early 20th century steward's wife, and the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film among its international accolades.