Seyneb Saleh
Seyneb Saleh | |
|---|---|
| Born | Seyneb Saleh 25 December 1987 |
| Alma mater | Berlin University of the Arts |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Height | 1.67 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) |
Seyneb Saleh (born 25 December 1987) is a German actress.
Early life and education
Seyneb Saleh was born on 25 December 1987 in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. She is a daughter of a German mother and an Iraqi father. Apart from two years in Casablanca, where she attended an American school, she was mainly raised in Germany.[1][2] Saleh lives in Berlin.
She studied acting from 2008 to 2012 at the Berlin University of the Arts and received a scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes in 2010.[3]
Career
After graduating Seyneb Saleh performed in over 26 theater productions at the Maxim Gorki Theater, the Schauspielhaus Graz, the Volkstheater Wien, the Schauspiel Hannover and the Deutsches Theater Berlin.[4]
In addition to her theater engagements, she has regularly worked for film, TV and streaming platforms, including the Netflix productions Mute (2018), Dogs of Berlin (2018), an Arabic-speaking role in Deutschland 86, the ZDF series Jenseits der Spree (2021), the German-Israeli Sky series Munich Games (2022), the award-winning German anthology series Uncivilized (2024), the German adaptation of the French cult series: Call my Agent - Berlin (2025) and feature films such as Toubab (2021), Was von der Liebe bleibt (2022) and Sabbatical (2023).[5]
She was introduced to a wider international audience in 2018 in Duncan Jones neo-noir science fiction film Mute, in which she played the female lead character Naadirah alongside Alexander Skarsgård, Paul Rudd & Justin Theroux.[6] In 2022 her leading role in the Sky series Munich Games further gained her much praise from international critics.[7][8][9] Her performance in the multilingual, action packed espionage series gained her and Yousif Sweid nominations for the German Acting Award as Best Duo - performance in 2023.
Saleh won her first German Acting Award in 2022 for her performance in Toubab as Best Supporting Role [10] and a second one followed for her performance in the episode 9/11 of the German anthology series Uncivilized as Best Episodic Role in 2025.[11]
Seyneb Saleh is multilingual and speaks German and English fluently, as well as French and Arabic.
Through her intense work with director and puppeteer Nikolaus Habjan she learned how to operate puppets, as she performed in his plays both, as an actress and a puppeteer.
Filmography
Film, Tv and Streamers
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Network | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Red Room | Sibil | Rudolf Thome | cinematic release | |
| 2012 | Offroad | Özlem | Elmar Fischer | cinematic release | |
| 2014 | For Nothing | Blanche | Stephan Geene | cinematic release | |
| The Lies of the Victors | Mira | Christoph Hochhäusler | cinematic release | ||
| 2017 | Neda | Neda | Afagh Irandoost | short film | |
| 2018 | Deutschland 86 | Aya | Florian Cossen, Arne Feldhusen | Amazon Prime / Sundance TV | 2 episodes |
| Dogs of Berlin | Rafika Masaad | Christian Alvart | Netflix | 6 episodes | |
| Mute | Naadirah | Duncan Jones | Netflix | ||
| 2019 | Golden Twenties | Tamara | Sofie Kluge | cinematic release | |
| Herzjagen | Anika | Elisabeth Scharang | ORF | TV movie | |
| 2020 | Over Christmas | Karina | Tobi Baumann | Netflix | 3 episodes |
| 2021 | Jenseits der Spree | Kay Freund | Marcus Ulbricht, Neelesha Barthel | ZDF | 4 episodes |
| Dengler - Kreuzberg Blues | Ezra Malik | Daniel Rübesam | ZDF | TV movie | |
| Toubab | Yara | Florian Dietrich | cinematic release | ||
| 2022 | Munich Games | Maria Köhler | Philipp Kadelbach | Sky | 6 episodes |
| 2023 | Between Us | Yasemine | Kanwal Sethi | cinematic release | |
| 2024 | 30 Tage Lust | Marie | Pia Hellenthal, Bartosz Grudziecki | SWR | 1 episode |
| Uncivilized | Sahra Alwani | Bilal Bahadır | ZDF | 1 episode | |
| Sabbatical | Tara | Judith Angerbauer | cinematic release | ||
| 2025 | Call my Agent - Berlin | Nicole Meister | Johann Buchholz, Boris Kunz, Laura Lackmann | Disney+ / Hulu | 8 episodes |
Theater (selected)
Theater productions
| Year | Title | Author | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Clavigo | Goethe | Marie | Alexandra Liedtke |
| FaustIn and Out | Elfriede Jellinek | Faustin | Philip Jenkins | |
| 2013 | Orphans | Dennis Kelly | Helen | Lina Hölscher |
| No Man's Land | Yael Ronen & the ensemble | Leyla | Yael Ronen | |
| 2014 - 2018 | The Misunderstanding | Albert Camus | Maria, the Mother | Nikolaus Habjan |
| 2015 | Vieux Carré | T. Williams | Jane Sparks | Sebastian Schug |
| The Changeling | Christine Lavant | Wrga, Zitha | Nikolaus Habjan | |
| 2016 | Brighton Beach Memoirs | Neil Simon | Nora | Sarantos Zervoulakos |
| Ship of Fools | Katherine Anne Porter | Lizzi Spöckenkieker | Dušan David Pařízek | |
| 2017 | Romeo and Juliet | Shakespeare | Juliet | Sebastian Schug |
| 2017 - 2018 | Dekalog: The Ten Commandments | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Anka / Majka / Ola / Zofia | Stephan Kimmig |
| 2019 | Platonowa | Anton Tschechow | Sofia | Stephan Kimmig |
| Iphigenia | Euripides | Iphigenia | Anne Lenk | |
| 2020 | The Marriage of Figaro | Beaumarchais | Suzanne | András Dömötör |
| 2021 - 2023 | Pictures of Your True Love | Wolfgang Herrndorf | Isa | Markus Bothe |
| 2022 - 2025 | Minna von Barnhelm | Lessing | Franziska | Anne Lenk |
Awards
Deutscher Schauspielpreis
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Toubab | Best Supporting Actress | Won | [12] |
| 2023 | Munich Games | Best Duo | Nominated | [13] |
| 2025 | Uncivilized | Best Episodic Role | Won | [14] |
Filmfestival Türkei Deutschland
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Was von der Liebe bleibt | Best Actress | Nominated | [15] |
References
- ^ Petsch, Barbara (24 August 2016). "Seyneb Saleh: "In sich zuhause sein ist wichtig"". Die Presse (in German). Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ ""Mute": Eine Volkstheater-Schauspielerin erobert Netflix". Die Presse (in German). 28 February 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
- ^ "Seyneb Saleh | Schauspiel Hannover". Retrieved 6 December 2018.
- ^ "filmmakers profil Seyneb Saleh". filmmakers.
- ^ "profil of Seyneb Saleh's German agency". Wasted Management.
- ^ "'Mute': Film Review". the hollywoodreporter.
- ^ "Munich Games review - this tense thriller's hero is like a multilingual terminator". the guardian.
- ^ "The makers of Fauda have another hit on their hands: Sky Atlantic's Munich Games reviewed". the spector.
- ^ "If you enjoyed Fauda and Tehran, then Munich Games is your next must-watch". the telegraph.
- ^ "Starke Frauen beim Deutschen Schauspielpreis". n-tv.
- ^ "Auszeichnungen: Deutscher Schauspielpreis". tagesspiegel.
- ^ "Starke Frauen beim Deutschen Schauspielpreis". n-tv.
- ^ "List of all nominees of the German Acting Award 2023". blickpunkt film.
- ^ "Auszeichnungen: Deutscher Schauspielpreis". tagesspiegel.
- ^ "Saleh's German managements website". Wasted Management.