Alexandra Maria Lara

Born: November 12 1978
Where: Bucharest, Romania

The actress won critical plaudits for her portrayal of Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge in the movie Downfall.

The daughter of an actor, Lara and her family fled to Germany to escape the Ceaucescu regime at the age of four and attended Berlin's Lycee Francais.

She then studied at the state acting school - Theatrewekstatt Charlottenburg - from 1997 before landing small screen roles.

Her breakthrough came in the border escape drama The Tunnel and she attracted international attention as Countess Marie Walewska in the TV movie Napoleon.

She then starred alongside Sam Neill and Keira Knightley in the mini-series Dr Zhivago.

In 2004, director Oliver Hirschbiegel cast her in the lead role of the World War II drama Downfall.

She subsequently appeared in the German films About the Looking for and Finding of Love and The Fisherman and his Wife.

In 2007, she starred in the Ian Curtis biopic Control as his German girlfriend Annik Honoré and alongside Neve Campbell in the comedy I Really Hate My Job.

Francis Ford Coppola was so impressed with her performance in Downfall that he cast her in the romantic thriller Youth Without Youth.