Acting
Jul 21, 1983
Tehran, Iran
Maryam Zaree
Acting
Biography
Maryam Zaree (Persian: مریم زارع; born July 22, 1983, in Tehran, Iran) is a German actress, filmmaker, and writer. She has appeared in various European film productions and gained recognition for lead roles in films such as *Shahada*, as well as for her award-winning performance in the series *4 Blocks*, for which she received the Grimme Prize in 2018. She made her directorial debut with the documentary *Born in Evin*, which explores her birth inside Evin Prison and won the German Film Award for Best Documentary in 2020. Maryam Zaree was born in Evin Prison in the Iranian capital, Tehran. In 1985, her mother, Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg, fled with her to Germany to escape political persecution. From the age of two, Zaree grew up in Frankfurt am Main. From 2004 to 2008, she studied acting at the Konrad Wolf University of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. While still a student, she participated in various film and television productions. Zaree rose to prominence through her lead role in the feature film *Shahada*, which screened in the Official Competition at the Berlinale in 2010 and received multiple awards at international festivals. For her performance, she received—among other honors—the Best Leading Performance award at the Monterrey Film Festival in Mexico, as well as a Special Mention at the Ghent International Film Festival. She went on to play other lead roles in films such as *Abgebrannt*, *Marry Me*, and the international co-production *I Am Not Him* by Tayfun Pirselimoğlu. On German television, she appeared from 2015 to 2019 as forensic pathologist Nasrin Reza in the Berlin-based *Tatort* series. In the series *4 Blocks*, she played the role of Khalila. In addition to her work in front of the camera, Zaree has also appeared as a guest actress at various theaters, including the Schauspielhaus Hannover, the Maxim Gorki Theater, the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, and the Ballhaus Naunynstraße. Zaree also works as a writer and director. With her first play, *Kluge Gefühle*, she won the Authors' Prize at the Heidelberg Play Market in 2017, as well as the Advancement Award of the Schiller Memorial Prize in 2019. Also in 2019, she was awarded a writer-in-residence position at London’s Royal Court Theatre. With her directorial debut, *Born in Evin*, she returned to her own personal history, exploring the circumstances of her birth inside Evin Prison in Iran. The documentary premiered at the Berlinale in 2019, where it received the Compass-Perspektive-Prize, and went on to win the German Film Award for Best Documentary in 2020. That same year, Zaree served as a member of the jury for the Amnesty International Film Prize at the Berlinale.
Feature Films (26)
Police officers Kessel and Driller are supposed to be on the lookout for an internationally wanted war criminal. But Kessel is a junkie, gets into a fight with a young dealer and runs the man over. His colleague Driller covers all the tracks, but cannot prevent an ambitious public prosecutor from trying to solve the incident. However, the two of them have a much bigger problem: the crime has made Kessel vulnerable to blackmail.
Unter Feinden
Pelin, a young single mother from the problem neighborhood of Berlin-Wedding, is sent with her three children by different fathers of different nationalities - Robby (seven), Elvis (four) and Roxanne (ten months) - to a mother-child cure in a scenic, paradisiacal spa resort in northern Germany. The cure is intended to give Pelin, who is constantly on a collision course with the youth welfare office and family court, time to reflect and recover physically and mentally.
Burnout
On a barren island, a mother and son confront years of silence and misunderstandings in writer-director Hanna Slak’s formidable fourth feature film starring Maren Eggert, scored by Amélie Legrand, and shot by Claire Mathon.
Not a Word
Before Christmas, the angels have the mission to make happier 70% of the people. The story is based on angel Uriel and two new angels helping him.
Engel sucht Liebe
Nihat, an introverted employee in a hospital cafeteria, is confused by Ayşe, a mysterious woman who just started working there as a dishwasher. Her obvious seductive approaches embarrass Nihat and make him nervous at the same time. Despite the rumors about her husband having been sentenced to many years in jail, Nihat reluctantly accepts Ayşe’s invitation to dinner at her house. This is the beginning of a strange and dangerous liaison. When Nihat discovers a picture of the woman’s husband and realizes that he looks astoundingly like him, the relation becomes even more toxic.
I Am Not Him
Television & Series (20)
Tatort is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD in Germany, ORF in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland.
Scene of the Crime
Tatort is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD in Germany, ORF in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland.
Scene of the Crime
Staged by Friedemann Fromm, this new prime time serial with main actors Anna Loos, Thomas Thieme and Burghart Klaußner is an emotional family drama, exciting political thriller and genre picture of the German capital in one sweep. The action’s central character is lawyer Susanne Kröhmer. While planning her private future with her partner, she gets the chance of becoming a candidate for the position of mayor of Berlin and prepares for competing with the city’s powerful ones. During this phase, however, she gets into conflict with her own father’s political interests, him being the leader of the conservative party.When finding out about some deceptive business practice with mayor-in-office Degenhardt, she feels urged to start on a journey back into her own past to find out truth. Alex, a journalist and good friend of hers from youth times, supports her in her confrontation with her past and her father’s criminal offences. One prime result during her search is, that transparency and honesty are hard to keep up within the political arena she is about to step into.
