Entrance: Laura Tonke

Born in West Berlin in 1974 and raised in the city, Laura Tonke can look back on an impressive 35-year acting career that includes numerous awards. She was discovered at the age of 15 in the playground of the Sophie Scholl School in Schöneberg for Michael Klier’s OSTKREUZ (1991). Today, she is a fixture in German cinema, having worked with such auteurs as Thomas Arslan, Rudolf Thome, Tom Tykwer, Dominik Graf, Sonja Heiss, Laura Lackmann, Fatih Akin and many others. She has also worked in television, acted on the stage and is a member of the performance theatre collective Gob Squad. She never attended drama school; her knowledge of acting was acquired through watching films. She also incorporates herself into her roles: her inimitable gaze, her smile, her sense of wonder and her wit.

Arsenal is paying tribute to this fascinating Berlin actress with a selection of seven films (1991–2025) that hint at the range of Laura Tonke’s talent in both leading and supporting roles. Whether playing an introverted teenager in the gloom following the fall of the Wall, a disoriented young woman in San Francisco, Gudrun Ensslin or a slick call center manager, whether embodying a mother with an anxiety disorder, a ‘Heinz’ or a committed Nazi – she always lends each film her own distinctive touch. We are very much looking forward to welcoming Laura Tonke to Arsenal across the three evenings.
(Birgit Kohler)