Johanna Wokalek
Actress
© Stefan Klüter
Johanna Wokalek is back at Oper Frankfurt for the title role in this production of Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (a role she performed in concert with the Dresden Philharmonic in 2016 and with which she made her debut in the house in 2017). After studying at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna she joined the ensemble at Schauspiel Bonn before moving to the Burgtheater in Vienna, where she worked with directors including Peter Zadek, Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth and Alvis Hermanis. Her best roles include the title role in Das Käth0chen von Heilbronn and Emilia Galotti. Her portrayal of the lead role in Hans Steinbichler's film Hierankl (2003) won her Bavaria's film prize, the Förderpreis Deutsche Film (acting) and a Gold Adolf Grimme Prize. This was followed by important lead roles in films including Barfuß/Barefoot, Nordwand/North Wall, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, The (female) Pope and Instructions on how to be Unhappy. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2000, as Ophelia in Hamlet and took part in Charlotte Salomon on the operatic stage in 2014, she recently played Samiel and the Narrator in a concert performance of Weber's Freischütz at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden. She was also the Sorceress in Thomas Hengelbrock's version of Purcell's Dido und Aeneas. She's been starring on TV in the series Polizeiruf 110 as inspector Cris Blohm since 2023