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Ursula Werner, born September 28, 1943, in Eberswalde, started actor's training at Staatliche Schauspielschule Berlin-Schöneweide (today: Ernst-Busch-Schauspielschule) in 1965 and successfully graduated three years later. Subsequently, Werner got her first engagements at Landestheater Halle/Saale and at Berlin's "Die Distel", the GDR political satire group. In 1979, she became a cast member of Berlin's Maxim-Gorki-Theater and has since been one of the most important actresses of the theatre's ensemble. In the course of her career, she appeared in highly praised productions of "Three Sisters", "The Seagull", or "The Threepenny Opera".
Werner made her movie debut in 1967, while still attending drama school, in Ralf Kirsten's adventurous comedy "Frau Venus und ihr Teufel" alongside Manfred Krug. Besides her theatre career, she appeared in a series of popular DEFA movies during the 1970s and 1980s, including the cult comedy "Ein irrer Duft von frischem Heu" ("A Terrific Scent of Fresh Hay"), where she played an SED party secretary with the telling name "Unglaube" ("Disbelief"), or the drama "Bürgschaft für ein Jahr", that won an award at the 1982 Berlinale. Furthermore, Werner starred in numerous roles in TV series like "Polizeiruf 110", or in TV movies like "Ich liebe Victor" (1984), directed by Karola Hattop.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Ursula Werner has only appeared occasionally in film or TV productions. Her most important films in these years include the psychological drama "Scheusal" (1991), Bodo Fürneisen's German contribution to the 1991 "Prix Italia", as well as three films she has made with director Andreas Dresen: "Die Polizistin" ("The Policewoman", 2000), "Willenbrock" (2004), and "Wolke Neun" ("Cloud Nine", 2008), where she plays the leading role of a wife who one day cheats on her longtime husband. At the 2008 Cannes film festival, "Wolke Neun" won the jury award of the section "Un certain regard". Ursula Werner received the German Film Award 2009 for her performance.
Also in 2008, she appeared in a supporting role in the made-for-TV Thriller "Narrenspiel". In 2011, following several performances in television productions, she returned to the big screen with two releases: In Andreas Dresen's acclaimed melodrama "Halt auf freier Strecke", she plays the mother-in-law of a cancer patient, in "Wintertochter" ("Winter Daughter") she is a pensioner, who helps a 12-year old girl to find her biological father.
Director Nicolas Wackerbarth cast her as a dominant acting diva in the ensemble of the tragicomedy "Unten Mitte Kinn" (TV, 2011). In the drama "Zwei Leben" ("Two Lives", DE/NO 2012), she had a small but important role as a former GDR children's home educator. In the children's film "Sputnik" (2013), she portrayed a lovable grandmother. She had a leading role in Anne Wild's highly acclaimed "Schwestern" ("Sisters", 2013), which explored the conflicts within a family when their youngest daughter enters a convent as a nun. Between May 2012 and fall 2013, Werner also appeared in several successful productions at the Münchner Kammerspiele theater.
After further television roles, such as in "Bornholmer Straße" (2014) and crime series like "SOKO Köln" (2015), Werner returned to the big screen in several feature films. She played a therapist in the abuse drama "Die Hände meiner Mutter" ("Hands of a Mother", 2016), appeared in the comedy "Lucky Loser - Ein Sommer in der Bredouille" (2017), and portrayed a member of an illustrious extended family in the ensemble drama "Sommerhäuser" ("The Garden", 2017).
In 2018, Ursula Werner took on a recurring role as the grandmother of the doctor's daughter Hanna Globisch in the ARD hospital series "In aller Freundschaft". That same year, she appeared on the big screen as Hape Kerkeling's grandmother in "Der Junge muss an die frische Luft" ("All About Me") and received the German Acting Award for her performance in the category Actress in a Comedic Role. She also played the role of a housekeeper in Caroline Link's adaptation of the novel "Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl" ("When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit", 2019).
Werner was part of the main ensemble of the six-part TV series "Der Palast" (2021), a GDR-FRG morality tale set in the world of dancers. In 2023, she appeared in the "Tatort" episode "Lenas Tante" as the aunt of Inspector Lena Odenthal. Also in 2023, Werner played a cunning thief in Axel Ranisch's feature film "Orphea in Love".