An actress, director, film producer, and writer. She was born on May 26, 1955, in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany, where she finished her secondary education in 1973. She began studying for two years in film studies in the drama department of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, after which she studied in New York at the New School of Social Research. She made her acting debut in Der Hauptdarsteller and her writing debut in the documentary Ob's stürmt oder schneit.