Maria Schrader's films, as an actor and director

Maria Schrader's latest directorial effort is based on the nonfiction book "She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement" by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, the New York Times journalists that brought down once-powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. "She Said" is the German-born director's first US feature film.

Schrader's previous comedy, "Ich bin dein Mensch" (I'm Your Man) was a German production that nonetheless gained notoriety beyond its borders, as the German entry for the best international film at the Oscars. The story explores the possibility of a relationship between a humanoid robot (played by Dan Stevens) and a scientist (Maren Eggert).

"Unorthodox" is Maria Schrader's first series. The title of the Netflix production refers to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn from which protagonist Esther Shapiro (Shira Haas), called "Esty," escapes. Esty's breakout from an arranged marriage leads her to Berlin, where she wants to live a freer life away from the strict community rules and study music. The series won an Emmy.

Her second film, "Vor der Morgenröte" (Before Dawn), already revolved around a German-Jewish theme. It deals with the last years of the European writer and Jew Stefan Zweig, which he spent in exile in the United States and Brazil from 1940 onward due to persecution. Schrader (pictured here in 2007), is not Jewish herself, but got to know Israel at the age of 14 during an exchange.

"Love Life" is set in Israel and involves a married young academic who falls for a much older man. He conceals a secret desire for vengeance. Zeruya Shalev, who wrote the novel, was accompanied by Schrader at readings.

Schrader had already made a name for herself as an actress before her first directorial efforts. Prizes did come though, such as the German Film Award for her performance as Jaguar, aka Felice Schragenheim, in Max Färberböck's "Aimee & Jaguar." Schrader had worked intensively on the biography of the Jewish woman for her role.

Schrader often starred in movies which had German-Jewish themes. In the 1990s, she worked a lot with Dani Levy, her temporary partner — for "Meschugge" (1998) or "Stille Nacht" (1995), for example. But she also enhanced her credentials with her role in "Deutschland 89." In the internationally successful series, she plays an ice-cold Stasi agent, as she did in the prequels.

Her career began on the theater stage. After performing at her high school near Hanover, in 1986 Schrader transferred to the Max Reinhardt Seminar to study acting in Vienna. She went on to land TV and film roles, yet returned to the stage again and again. From 2002-2005, for example, she performed the role of Kriemhild in Dieter Wedel's "Nibelungen."