Katharina Thalbach (German: [ka.ta.ˈʁiː.na ˈtaːl.bax] (listen); actually Katharina Joachim genannt Thalbach; born 19 January 1954) is a German actress and stage director. She played theatre at the Berliner Ensemble and at the Volksbühne Berlin, and was actress in the film The Tin Drum. She worked as a theatre and opera director.
Born in East Berlin, Katharina Thalbach's father Benno Besson was a director, her mother Sabine Thalbach, was an actress. Also actors are her half-brother Pierre Besson [de] and her stepmother Ursula Karusseit.
At the age of four, Thalbach was playing children's roles on stage, on television and in films. After the death of her mother in 1966, Helene Weigel took her under her care. In 1967, she made her debut as the whore Betty (later the Polly) in Erich Engel's production of Brecht's Dreigroschenoper. She completed her Abitur at the Max-Planck-Oberschule. She obtained her stage maturity examination (Bühnenreifeprüfung) as a master student of Helene Weigel, Berliner Ensemble. Thalbach played at the Berliner Ensemble and at the Volksbühne Berlin, where her father worked as artistic director.

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