Maria Simon

Maria Simon, born on February 6, 1976, is a talented actress from Germany. Her father, a native of Leipzig, pursued mathematics in Leningrad, where he met Olga, Simon's mother, a Russian-Jewish woman from Kazakhstan studying electronics. The couple tied the knot during their studies.

Maria is the younger sibling of actress Susanna Simon, born on July 23, 1968, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Raised in East Germany, Maria relocated to New York City in 1990 to join her father, a computer specialist with the United Nations, and her sister Dalena. She also has another sister named Alyssa. Maria is a mother of four, including one child from a previous relationship with actor Devid Striesow and three with her ex-husband, actor Bernd Michael Lade.

After completing her schooling, she returned to Germany after reunification to pursue acting at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, graduating in 1999. Her performance in the film "Zornige Küsse" earned her the Best Actress award at the 22nd Moscow International Film Festival in 2000. In 2003, she received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the German Film Awards and was recognized as a European Shooting Star at the 2004 Berlinale. That same year, she portrayed Polly in Bertolt Brecht's "Dreigroschenoper" at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. Her TV film "Kleine Schwester" was nominated for the Adolf Grimme Awards in 2005.