Ursina Lardi

After studying acting at the Academy of Performing Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin, Swiss-born Ursina Lardi had a career as a stage actress at many of the theaters in Germany before pursuing film and television acting in a serious way. Lardi's first on-screen role was in 2001 when she played the role of Valerie in Angela Schanelec's "Passing Summer." Although Lardi had a fairly robust television and motion picture resume for the first several years of her career, she did not receive international attention until she played the role of The Baroness in Michael Haneke's 2009 movie "The White Ribbon." Her performance in Haneke's stunning black and white film about a series of bizarre crimes in a German village on the eve of the first World War was praised and lauded. She played the wife of a cold village baron, who treats her poorly, as the various men in the movie do their respective families. Following her work in "The White Ribbon," Lardi acted in guest spots on German television as well as in feature films, including 2010s "Songs of Love and Hate," directed by Katalin Godros and about a couple in an idyllic setting whose lives are thrown into turmoil when their daughter's sexual awakening disturbs the balance of power in the family.