Diane Kruger ( Heidkrüger; ; born 15 July 1976) is a German and American actress. Early in her career, Kruger gained worldwide recognition and received the

Trophée Chopard Trophée Chopard (English: "Chopard Trophy") is awarded by a jury of professionals to two young actors in order to recognise and encourage their career. It was founded in 2001 by Chopard and has since been presented every year during the Cannes Fi ...

from the Cannes Film Festival. Kruger became known for her roles in film as

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

in the epic war film '' Troy'' (2004), Dr. Abigail Chase in the heist film ''

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...

'' (2004) and its 2007 sequel, Bridget von Hammersmark in Quentin Tarantino's war film '' Inglourious Basterds'' (2009), and Gina in the psychological thriller film '' Unknown'' (2011). She also starred as Detective Sonya Cross in the FX crime drama series ''

The Bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...

'' (2013–14). In 2017, she made her German-language debut in Fatih Akin's ''

In the Fade ''In the Fade'' (german: Aus dem Nichts) is a 2017 German drama film written and directed by Fatih Akin. It stars Diane Kruger as a German woman whose husband and son are killed in a terrorist attack perpetrated by neo-Nazis. It was selected to ...

'', for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. In 2014, she was made an Officer of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

Early life

Diane Heidkrüger was born on 15 July 1976. She was brought up Catholic and attended Catholic school. She has stated that one of her grandmothers was Polish. She was brought up in West Germany with her younger brother, Stefan. Her mother sent her to student exchange programs when she was a teenager to improve her English. As a child, Kruger wanted to become a ballerina and successfully auditioned for the Royal Ballet School in London, but a knee injury cut her ballet career short. Later, Kruger moved to Paris working as a model and began learning French.

Career

Modeling

In 1993, Kruger represented Germany in the Elite Model Look and started modelling afterwards. Despite her relatively short stature for a model, she managed to land bookings such as advertisements from Yves Saint Laurent,

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...

, Salvatore Ferragamo,

Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer. He first gained notoriety working for Cerruti and then for many others, including Allegri, Bagutta and Hilton. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expande ...

, Jil Sander,

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses a ...

, Burberry and Louis Vuitton; runway shows from

Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...

, D&G and

Sonia Rykiel Sonia Rykiel (; ; 25 May 1930 – 25 August 2016) was a French fashion designer and writer. She created the Poor Boy Sweater, which was featured on the cover of French ''Elle'' magazine. Her knitwear designs and new fashion techniques led her t ...

as well as appearances on the cover of '' Vogue Paris'', ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'' and ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' to her modeling repertoire. She gradually stopped modelling after deciding to pursue a career in acting.

Acting

Diane Kruger 66ème Festival de Venise (Mostra) 2 color

Kruger became interested in acting and took lessons at the Cours Florent. She made her film debut in 2002, opposite

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...

and

Christopher Lambert Christophe Guy Denis "Christopher" Lambert (; ; born March 29, 1957) is a French-American actor, producer, and novelist. He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally famous for portraying Ta ...

in ''The Piano Player'', a TV film by Jean-Pierre Roux. The same year, she also starred in her then husband's directorial début ''Mon Idole''. She played Julie Wood in 2003's ''

Michel Vaillant ''Michel Vaillant'' is a French car racing comics series created in 1957 by French cartoonist Jean Graton and published originally by Le Lombard. Later, Graton published the albums by himself when he founded Graton éditeur in 1982. Michel Vaill ...

'' and Lisa in '' Wicker Park'' (2004), alongside Josh Hartnett and Rose Byrne. One of her more high-profile roles to date is her portrayal of

Helen of Sparta Helen of Troy, Helen, Helena, (Ancient Greek: Ἑλένη ''Helénē'', ) also known as beautiful Helen, Helen of Argos, or Helen of Sparta, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believe ...

in Wolfgang Petersen's epic '' Troy''. In 2004, Kruger starred with Nicolas Cage and Sean Bean (who co-starred with her in ''Troy'') in the film ''

'', going on to appear in films ''

Joyeux Noël :''Joyeux Noel means Merry Christmas in French. For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation) and Merry Christmas (disambiguation)'' ''Joyeux Noël'' ''('Merry Christmas')'' is a 2005 war drama film based on the Christmas truce of December 1 ...

'' (2005), and ''

Copying Beethoven ''Copying Beethoven'' is a 2006 American dramatic film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Agnieszka Holland which gives a fictionalized take on the triumphs and heartaches of Ludwig van Beethoven's last years. Plot It is 1824 as Bee ...

'' (2006). She reprised her role as Dr. Abigail Chase in '' National Treasure: Book of Secrets'', released in December 2007. Kruger was the hostess of the opening and closing ceremonies of the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. ''4 M ...

. Kruger was a jury member of the

58th Berlin International Film Festival The 58th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 7 to February 17, 2008. The festival opened with Martin Scorsese's documentary film '' Shine a Light''. ''Be Kind Rewind'' by Michel Gondry served as the closing film. Gre ...

in 2008. The festival is chaired by

Costa Gavras Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...

. In 2009, she co-starred as a German actress turned Allied spy in Quentin Tarantino's film '' Inglourious Basterds''. In December 2009, she announced the nominations of the 67th Golden Globe Awards and also picked up nominations from the

Screen Actors' Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

for Best Supporting Actress and Outstanding Performance by a Cast of a Motion Picture for her role in ''Inglourious Basterds''. Kruger played Anna in

Jaco Van Dormael Jaco Van Dormael (born 9 February 1957) is a Belgian film director, screenwriter and playwright. His films especially focus on a respectful and sympathetic portrayal of people with mental and physical disabilities. Van Dormael spent his childh ...

's '' Mr. Nobody''. Critical response has praised the film's artistry and Kruger's acting. Kruger made a cameo appearance in an April 2010 episode of the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

show '' Fringe'', in which her former boyfriend, actor Joshua Jackson, starred. In 2010, Kruger also appeared in Mark Ronson's music video for " Somebody to Love Me", where she plays Boy George. In the 2011 film '' Unknown'', Kruger starred as Gina, a Bosnian undocumented immigrant, and key character alongside leading actor Liam Neeson. It was also announced in 2011 that Kruger had replaced Eva Green in the role of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

in the French-language film, '' Les Adieux à la Reine''. In 2012, she was named as a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section. ...

. The festival is chaired by Nanni Moretti. She starred in the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's novel '' The Host,'' which was released in March 2013. More recently, Kruger portrayed El Paso, Texas, police officer Sonya Cross on FX's ''

'', which aired in 2013. In 2015, she was named as a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the

2015 Venice Film Festival The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film '' Amarcord'' was shown at ...

. In 2016, she co-starred in '' The Infiltrator'' with Bryan Cranston and John Leguizamo. In 2017, Kruger made a rare film appearance in Germany in the thriller ''

'' by Fatih Akin, she won several awards for her performance. In 2019, Kruger replaced Marion Cotillard in the spy movie '' The 355'', playing a BND agent. In 2022, Kruger starred in the thriller “Out of the Blue”, opposite Ray Nicholson, son of Jack.

Public image

Kruger was included in '' People'' "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" 2004 issue. She appeared on Maxim "Hot 100" list twice, ranking at No. 50 in 2005 and No. 88 in 2009. She also ranked at No. 83 on AskMen "Top 99 Women" list in 2010. Kruger is a brand ambassador for Swiss watch manufacturer Jaeger-LeCoultre. In December 2009, she was announced as the global "spokesmodel" of L'Oréal. It was announced in May 2010 that she would become the latest face for

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...

's newest fragrance line, Beauty.

Personal life

Kruger is fluent in German, English and French. Additionally, she studied Latin in school for eight years, though she does not speak it. In 2013, she became an

American citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

. Kruger has stated that she has a fear of horses and will not take part in any films that require her to ride or interact with horses, revealing that she has given up roles in the past because of this. Her fear stems from having been previously thrown off of the animals by accident. In 1999, she began dating French actor and director Guillaume Canet. They were married on 1 September 2001. They acted together in ''Joyeux Noël'' (2005) and divorced in 2006. Kruger said that the marriage was unsuccessful because their careers had kept them in different parts of the world. From 2006 to 2016, she was in a relationship with actor Joshua Jackson. In 2015, Kruger met actor Norman Reedus on the set of ''

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

''. The two were first seen together as a couple in July 2016. In November 2018, Kruger gave birth to their daughter, her first and his second child.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Honors

Ordre_des_Arts_et_des_Lettres_Officier_ribbon

Officer of the

(22 September 2014).

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Diane Kruger
at AskMen {{DEFAULTSORT:Kruger, Diane 1976 births 21st-century American actresses 21st-century German actresses Cours Florent alumni American expatriates in Canada American expatriates in France American female models American film actresses American people of German descent American people of Polish descent American television actresses Former Roman Catholics German expatriates in Canada German expatriates in France German expatriates in the United States German female models German film actresses German people of Polish descent German television actresses Living people Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners People educated at the Royal Ballet School People from Hildesheim (district) People with acquired American citizenship