Marlene Dietrich
1901 - 1992
HPI 83.42163 languages
Marlene Dietrich was a German actress and singer who became an American citizen. She was most famous for her sultry voice and provocative Hollywood movies, such as "The Blue Angel" and "Morocco."
The Most Famous
Actors from Germany
423 notable people
Trending Actors from Germany This Week
The top 10 Actors from Germany trending on Wikipedia in the past 7 days, with a quick note on what drove the spike.
- #1
Diane Kruger
b. 1976
Trending in Italian (#10), Spanish (#99), English (#126), German (#187), Russian (#232), and French (#344) Wikipedia (7,015 views, on Aug...
- #2
Elke Sommer
b. 1940
Trending in German (#11) and Italian (#17) Wikipedia (7,249 views, on Aug 3).
- #3
Tomer Sisley
b. 1974
Trending in French (#13) and German (#14) Wikipedia (7,960 views, on Aug 5).
- #4
Jana Pallaske
b. 1979
Trending in German (#13) Wikipedia (6,574 views, on Aug 3).
- #5
Bruce Willis
b. 1955
Trending in French (#15), Spanish (#28), Hungarian (#45), Polish (#47), English (#57), German (#78), Russian (#81), Portuguese (#121), and...
- #6
Dieter Hallervorden
b. 1935
Trending in German (#16) Wikipedia (5,302 views, on Aug 4).
- #7
Michael Fassbender
b. 1977
Trending in Polish (#17) Wikipedia (1,878 views, on Aug 2).
- #8
Jessica Schwarz
b. 1977
Trending in German (#25) Wikipedia (3,987 views, on Aug 6).
- #9
Barbara Sukowa
b. 1950
Trending in German (#29) Wikipedia (5,810 views, on Aug 2).
- #10
Maria Simon
b. 1976
Trending in German (#33) Wikipedia (3,232 views, on Aug 6).
This page contains a list of the greatest Germans Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 15,712 Actors, 402 of which were born in Germany. This makes Germany the birth place of the 8th most number of Actors behind South Korea and Japan.
Top 10 German Actors
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary German Actors of all time. This list of famous German Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of German Actors.
#1 #2 Bruce Willis
b. 1955
HPI 80.48104 languagesBruce Willis is most famous for his role as John McClane in the "Die Hard" series.
#3 
Simone Signoret
1921 - 1985
HPI 74.3167 languagesSimone Signoret was a French actress who was best known for her role in the film Casque d'Or, which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
#4 
Curd Jürgens
1915 - 1982
HPI 70.5142 languagesCurd Jürgens is most famous for his role as Major Heinrich Strasser in the 1965 James Bond film "Thunderball."
#5 
Magda Schneider
1909 - 1996
HPI 70.1026 languagesMagda Schneider is most famous for being a German actress and singer. She was born in Berlin, Germany on July 17, 1928. She was a popular star in the 1950s.
#6 
Jürgen Prochnow
b. 1941
HPI 69.5337 languagesJürgen Prochnow is most famous for his role as Captain Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock in the film Das Boot.
#7 
Emmy Göring
1893 - 1973
HPI 69.0629 languagesEmmy Göring is most famous for being the wife of Hermann Göring, a high-ranking Nazi officer and commander of the Luftwaffe.
#8 
Hardy Krüger
1928 - 2022
HPI 68.7236 languagesHardy Krüger is most famous for his role in the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" as Colonel Saito.
#9 
Udo Kier
1944 - 2025
HPI 68.7139 languagesUdo Kier is most famous for his role in the movie "Blade" as the vampire Deacon Frost.
#10 
Nastassja Kinski
b. 1961
HPI 68.6857 languagesNastassja Kinski is most famous for her role in the film "The Last Tango in Paris" with Marlon Brando.
People by Birth Decade
Browse notable Germans Actors grouped by birth decade. Each decade shows the top 10 by HPI; expand to see everyone.
2000s(2)
1990s(29)
1980s(54)
1970s(70)
1960s(57)
1950s(28)
1940s(42)
1930s(26)
1920s(29)
1910s(21)
1900s(22)
1890s(20)
1880s(9)
1870s(7)
1820s(1)
1750s(1)
1740s(1)
1710s(1)
Unknown(1)
Overlapping Lives
Which Actors were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 25 most globally memorable Actors since 1700.
ARTS
