Nina Petri, born July 16, 1963, in Hamburg, studied acting at Westfälische Schauspielschule in Bochum from 1983 to 1987. She made her stage debut in 1986 in Cologne, and three years later she made her first appearance on TV in the four-part TV movie "Rote Erde".

After striking performances in films like Sönke Wortmann's "Allein unter Frauen" ("Alone Among Women", 1991) and Doris Dörrie's "Happy Birthday, Türke!" ("Happy Birthday!", 1992), and in the TV series "Mit List und Krücke" (1992), Nina Petri made her final breakthrough in 1993 in the title role of Tom Tykwer's film "Die tödliche Maria" ("Deadly Maria") – Petri not only received paramount reviews, her performance in Tykwer’s psychological drama also won her a Bavarian film award.

During the following years, Petri appeared in numerous TV productions, including "Schimanski – Hart am Limit" (1997), "Die Unschuld der Krähen" (1998), or "Duell der Richter" (1999), and in the TV series "Zwei Brüder" (1994 to 2001), but also starrred in ambitious productions for the movie screen: Petri, for instance, played a murderous secretary in the melancholic comedy "Zugvögel… einmal nach Inari" ("Trains 'n' Roses", 1997) and the lover of Franka Potente's father in "Lola rennt" ("Run Lola Run", 1998). Furthermore, she starred in Doris Dörrie's ensemble comedy "Bin ich schön?" ("Am I Beautiful?", 1998). Her performances in "Lola rennt" and in "Bin ich schön?" won Petri the German film award as "Best supporting actress".

In the early 2000s, Nina Petri starred in numerous TV movies, including the drama "Nachts, wenn der Tag beginnt" (2003), directed by Christian Görlitz, the relationship comedy "Schöne Männer hat man nie für sich allein", or the chamber play "Die Konferenz", and in TV series like "Tatort" or "Ein Fall für zwei".

On the movie screen, Nina Petri was seen in Peter Lichtefeld's film "Playa del Futuro" (2005), as well as in key supporting parts, for instance, in "Am Tag als Bobby Ewing starb" (2005) or in "Emmas Glück" ("Emma's Bliss", 2006).

Also memorable were her performances in Lars Jessen's made-for-TV thrillers "2 für alle Fälle – Ein Song für den Mörder" (2010) and "2 für alle Fälle - Manche mögen Mord" (2012), and her turn as the best friend of an abused woman in the TV drama "Kehrtwende" (2011). In André Erkau's cinema-release film "Das Leben ist nichts für Feiglinge", she plays the mother of a young runaway. Since 2013, Nina Petri stars as a police detective in the TV series "Heiter bis tödlich – Zwischen den Zeilen".

Besides her work for movie and TV productions, Nina Petri manages her own theatre, "Die Theaterfabrik", in her home town Hamburg.