Acting
Jun 18, 1997
Tokyo, Japan
Malaya Stern Takeda
Acting
Biography
Malaya Stern Takeda (born June 19, 1997 in Tokyo) is an American - Japanese actress. The daughter of an American mother from California and a Japanese father from Tokyo who was passionate about German studies, Takeda grew up in Berlin from 2000 onwards. There, she attended a bilingual school. Although she is fluent in German, she states that English is her native language. Her first name means "free" or "independent" and, like her middle name, "Stern," was chosen by her father. From 2015 to 2016, Takeda attended the private acting school Michael Tschechow Studio Berlin. This was followed by acting studies at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in her hometown from 2017 to 2021. While still studying acting, Takeda took on stage roles, and from 2018 onwards she had her first roles in student films. During her training at the HfS Ernst Busch, she appeared, among others, in the bat-Studiotheater in the title role of Penthesilea (2018, directed by Theresa Thomasberger), in the Schaubühne as Natella Abaschwili in The Caucasian Chalk Circle (2019–2020, directed by Peter Kleinert), in the Volksbühne as Lars in Men's Fantasies (2020, directed by Theresa Thomasberger) and at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus as Gabi in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (2020, directed by David Bösch ). Takeda first attracted the attention of theater critics at the end of 2021 during a solo recital alongside Aram Tafreshian at the Lausitz Festival in Cottbus . At the State Theater there , she interpreted the title role in the 90-minute Shakespeare drama Richard III as man, woman, and child, using contemporary feminist texts. The performance had emerged the previous year from Takeda's 8-minute graduate recital at the Ernst Busch University of Music, where Tafreshian was also her lecturer. She is currently a permanent member of the ensemble at the Nationaltheater Mannheim . In 2022, Takeda took on the lead role alongside Aram Tafreshian in Sarah Miro Fischer's student short film Spit , which received an invitation to compete at the Max Ophüls Prize film festival . For her portrayal of Livia, who is attracted to violent fantasies, she and Tafreshian received a nomination for the Max Ophüls Prize for "Best Young Actress". The short film Girl Who Cried Wolf was also invited to the festival, for which she was also a member of the ensemble. In the same year, she played one of the four main roles as Zoé in the TV series Love Addicts .
Feature Films (13)
After a media storm that turns her life upside down, a famous Hamburg lawyer takes on the defense of a young musician accused of infanticide.
Conti - My Two Faces
When they learn of an outbreak of a dangerous virus shortly before their long-awaited return to Earth, a teenager and his mother struggle to decide whether to land or return to space aboard their confined spaceship.
Almost Home
During lockdown, five friends who have moved to different cities after graduating from their high school play guessing games via Zoom. An unexpected twist puts the clique's friendship to the test.
Girl Who Cried Wolf
During a global pandemic, Laszlo isolates himself in his apartment. He avoids any kind of human contact. Until one evening the new neighbor Zoe rings at his doorbell with unforeseen consequences for both of them.
Distance
A British-Japanese woman reconnects with her origins through grief, ghosts, and good food.
Where We Belong
In the second part of the crime series about star lawyer Anna Conti and public prosecutor Henry Mahn, the two women are once again fighting for law and justice on different sides. After Conti has found her way back into professional life with her last case, she now takes on the defense of a dazzling client: Frank Stolpe has led a double life for years and has now committed a bank robbery for which he appears to have no motive. Curious and fascinated at the same time, Conti tries to find out all the facets of this mysterious man with the help of her assistant Carlo. What can she believe about him? Henry Mahn, on the other hand, sees him as a pathological swindler who uses his manipulative skills to plunge others into misfortune.
Ein Fall für Conti - Spieler
Television & Series (7)
Dennis can’t manage to separate himself from his possessive girlfriend. Nele chases away even the most perfect guys with her fairy tale fantasies. Mo freezes up when he is about to make an emotional connection. Katrin refrains from love, but makes up for it with throwaway sex.
Love Addicts
Bursting amniotic bags, babies in a pelvic position, premature contractions: for midwives Nalan, Anna and Greta, a state of emergency is the order of the day.
Push
Marie and Luis meet at a costume party and immediately fall for each other. What begins as a dream of true love increasingly turns into a nightmare. Because Luis is addicted to sex. And Marie is addicted to Luis.
Naked
"Wake Up" tells the story of Emilia, whose world came to a standstill two years ago when her sister Clara fell into a coma following a severe skiing accident. When Emilia participates in a study on anxiety therapy conducted by nanobot researcher Hevi Abdel, something unforeseen happens: Hevi’s consciousness briefly migrates into Emilia’s body. For Emilia, this research becomes her last hope of bringing her sister back to life.
