Barbara Sukowa started as a stage actress in major German theatres. She performed as Marion in Büchner's Danton's Death, and a number of Shakespearian roles: Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Rosalind in As You Like It, and Desdemona in Othello. Sukowa also performed in Ibsen's The Master Builder and as The Marquise de Merteuil in Heiner Mueller's Quartettat the Salzburg Festival. Performing in English, the actress worked on a production of The Cherry Orchard in New Jersey and in Arthur Kopit's Because He Can.
Sukowa's cinematic breakthrough came with her portrayal of Mieze in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz, which earned her the German Best Young Actress Award. Her award-winning performances did not end there. She went on to win a German Film Awards (Gold) award for her performance in title role in Fassbinder'sLola. Her performance in Margarethe von Trotta's film Die bleierne Zeit earned her the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival. She also received a Best Actress Award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival for her work in von Trotta's film Rosa Luxemburg. Sukowa also earned the Best Actress Award at the Montreal World Film Festival for her role in the film The Invention of the Curried Sausage by Ulla Wagner. She is also a three-time winner at the prestigious Bavarian Film Award as Best Actress for her roles in In the Name of Innocence, Vision –from the life of Hildegard von Bingen and Hannah Arendt.
In addition, Sukowa has developed a second career as a classical music narrator and singer. She performed the Speaker's role in Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire first with the Schoenberg Ensemble under Reinbert de Leeuw, then with ensembles in Paris, London, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Rome, Tokyo, Salzburg, Los Angeles, and in New York City with Mitsuko Uchida and the Brentano Quartett. She has also performed the Speaker's role in Schönberg's Gurrelieder with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado, and the Los Angeles Philharmonics under Esa–Pekka Salonen. Moreover, Sukowa is the Speaker on the recording with Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic.
Sukowa also narrated Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolfboth in concert and on record, as well as a recording of Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream. She has performed in Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera and as Cassandra in the American premiere of Michael Jarrell'sCassandreat Carnegie Hall alongside the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Also at Carnegie Hall she sang the US premiere of In the Wonderful Month of May, an adaptation of Schubert and Schumann Lieder by Reinbert Deleeuw and the Schoenberg Ensemble. The recording, produced by Winter&Winter Records, received an Echo Klassik, an Edison Award and a Grammy Nomination.
Amongst all the aforementioned achievements, Sukowa is the lead singer of the Band the X-Patsys, which she founded with visual artists Jon Kessler and Robert Longo. The band performed in New York, Berlin, and in 2011 in Paris at the Espace Cardin. The band's CD, Devouring Time: Barbara Sukowa and the X-Patsys, was chosen in Germany on the "List of Best New Releases."
Known For
Credits
Cast Credits
Constellation (2024)
Starring as Irene Lysenko
(5 episodes)
- Episode 1x08: These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruin (Mar 27, 2024)
- Episode 1x05: Five Miles Out, the Sound Is Clearest (Mar 6, 2024)
- Episode 1x03: Somewhere in Space Hangs My Heart (Feb 21, 2024)
- Episode 1x02: Live and Let Live (Feb 21, 2024)
- Episode 1x01: The Wounded Angel (Feb 21, 2024)
Hunters (2020)
Guest starring as Tilda Sauer
- Episode 1x05: At Night, All Birds are Black (Feb 21, 2020)
12 Monkeys (2015)
Starring as Katarina Jones
(33 episodes)
- Episode 4x11: The Beginning Part 2 (Jul 6, 2018)
- Episode 4x10: The Beginning Part 1 (Jul 6, 2018)
- Episode 4x09: One Minute More (Jun 29, 2018)
- Episode 4x08: Demons (Jun 29, 2018)
- Episode 4x07: Daughters (Jun 29, 2018)
- Episode 4x06: Die Glocke (Jun 22, 2018)
- Episode 4x05: After (Jun 22, 2018)
- Episode 4x04: Legacy (Jun 22, 2018)
- Episode 4x03: 45 RPM (Jun 15, 2018)
- Episode 4x02: Ouroboros (Jun 15, 2018)
- Episode 4x01: The End (Jun 15, 2018)
- Episode 3x10: Witness (May 21, 2017)
- Episode 3x09: Thief (May 21, 2017)
- Episode 3x08: Masks (May 21, 2017)
- Episode 3x07: Nurture (May 20, 2017)
- Episode 3x06: Nature (May 20, 2017)
- Episode 3x05: Causality (May 20, 2017)
- Episode 3x04: Brothers (May 19, 2017)
- Episode 3x03: Enemy (May 19, 2017)
- Episode 3x02: Guardians (May 19, 2017)
- Episode 3x01: Mother (May 19, 2017)
- Episode 2x13: Memory of Tomorrow (Jul 18, 2016)
- Episode 2x11: Resurrection (Jun 27, 2016)
- Episode 2x10: Fatherland (Jun 20, 2016)
- Episode 2x09: Hyena (Jun 13, 2016)
- Episode 2x08: Lullaby (Jun 6, 2016)
- Episode 2x07: Meltdown (May 30, 2016)
- Episode 2x06: Immortal (May 23, 2016)
- Episode 2x05: Bodies of Water (May 16, 2016)
- Episode 2x04: Emergence (May 9, 2016)
- Episode 2x03: One Hundred Years (May 2, 2016)
- Episode 2x02: Primary (Apr 25, 2016)
- Episode 2x01: Year of the Monkey (Apr 18, 2016)
Guest starring as Katarina Jones
(12 episodes)
- Episode 1x13: Arms of Mine (Apr 10, 2015)
- Episode 1x12: Paradox (Apr 3, 2015)
- Episode 1x11: Shonin (Mar 27, 2015)
- Episode 1x10: Divine Move (Mar 20, 2015)
- Episode 1x09: Tomorrow (Mar 13, 2015)
- Episode 1x08: Yesterday (Mar 6, 2015)
- Episode 1x06: The Red Forest (Feb 20, 2015)
- Episode 1x05: The Night Room (Feb 13, 2015)
- Episode 1x04: Atari (Feb 6, 2015)
- Episode 1x03: Cassandra Complex (Jan 30, 2015)
- Episode 1x02: Mentally Divergent (Jan 23, 2015)
- Episode 1x01: Splinter (Jan 16, 2015)