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Senta Berger (born May 13, 1941, in Vienna) is an
Austrian actress and producer.

Berger's parents were not rich, but tried
everything to meet the desires of their daughter.
Her father, from whom she probably inherited
talent, was a musician. With him, Senta first
appeared on stage at the age of four, where he
accompanied his daughter's singing on the piano.
At the age of five she started ballet lessons. But
her dream of a career as a dancer was destroyed by
her last teacher, who did not like the physical
changes in Senta during puberty.

Berger then took private acting lessons. In 1957,
she won her first small role in a film. She
applied for the Max Reinhardt Seminar, a famous
acting school in Vienna, and was accepted, shortly
afterwards was forced to leave, because she had
accepted a film role without permission. In 1958,
she became the youngest member of the Josefstadt
theatre in Vienna. Her ambition was still to be a
film actress. 

More and more directors and producers wanted to
work with her, for example Bernhard Wicki and
Arthur Brauner, who produced the film The Good
Soldier Svejk|The Good Soldier Schweijk with
Berger and Heinz Rühmann, a famous German actor.
Brauner used Senta Berger in several films, but
soon she tired of musicals. In 1962, she went to
Hollywood and worked with stars such as Charlton
Heston, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and Yul Brynner.
An offer for a series role, which would have
brought an obligation of several years with
itself, was the reason for their return to
Germany.

In 1963, Berger met Michael Verhoeven, son of the
German film director Paul Verhoeven (not the Dutch
Paul Verhoeven).  In 1966, they married, after
starting up their own film production company the
previous year. In 1970, she starred for the first
time in a film produced by her own company and
directed by her husband. Other internationally
successful films made by the duo included, amongst
others, Die Weiße Rose (film)|Die weiße Rose,
The terrible girl (Das schreckliche Mädchen) and
Mutters Courage. Berger continued to develop her
European career in France and Italy.

The birth of her two sons caused Senta to turn
back to the theatre. She successfully played at
the Burgtheater in Vienna, at the Thaliatheater in
Hamburg and at the Schillertheater in Berlin.
Between 1974 and 1982, she played the
“Buhlschaft” in the play
“Jedermannn” at the Salzburg Festival
with Curd Jürgens and Maximilian Schell. In
1985/86, she started a comeback in front of
German-speaking audiences in the very poular TV
serial “Kir Royal”. Afterwards further
serial hits follow, like “The fast
Gerti”, where she plays a taxi driver. In
the same year, she also started a career as a
singer of Chansons.

Since February 2003, Senta Berger has been
president of the German Film Academy, who want to
advance the new generation of actors and actresses
in Germany and Europe and who will decide the
assignment of the German Film Awards in the
future.