Lara Mandoki

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Lara Mandoki (born September 17, 1989, in Munich)^[1] is a German actress with a diverse career spanning television, film, and theater. She began her acting career in 2006 and has since appeared in a variety of notable productions, including the Sky Series Das Boot, the Emmy-winning thriller Unterm Radar, and the ZDF Show Erzgebirgskrimi where she has been playing the lead detective since 2018. Her theater work includes a significant role in the 240-hour performance installation Meat at the Schaubühne Berlin. In 2015, Mandoki gained international recognition with her role in the Canadian-Hungarian co-production X Company. In 2023, Mandoki played a leading role in the ARTE international documentary drama-series A World Divided as Hedwig Höss.

Lara Mandoki, the daughter of Hungarian musician Leslie Mandoki,^[2] pursued her acting studies in Munich and Los Angeles.^[3] Next to German, Mandoki speaks Hungarian natively, as a result of her family's Hungarian origin. During her training, she gained experience in numerous theater productions, including performances at the Münchner Kammerspiele. Her involvement extended to significant projects such as the 240-hour performance installation Meat at the Schaubühne Berlin and Dieter Wedel’s Shakespeare production Die Komödie der Irrungen at the Bad Hersfelder Festspiele, where she played the role of Maisha^[3].

Mandoki played her first film role in 2006 in the short film Lia.^[3] Her television career then gained momentum with her role as Herta Levin in the ZDF historical drama Die Holzbaronin [de] (2012), where she appeared alongside Christine Neubauer^[3]. Her versatility was showcased in 2014 when she hosted the ZDF documentary miniseries Nicht alles war schlecht, in which the post-Cold War generation attempts to understand what life was like in a divided Germany.

Mandoki further established her reputation with roles in the Emmy Award-winning thriller Unterm Radar (2015) and Mira Thiel’s film comedy Gut zu Vögeln (2016). Her performance in Lars Montag’s tragicomedy Sex, Pity and Loneliness (2017) earned critical acclaim and multiple German Film Award nominations.^[4]

She made her international breakthrough^[5] with her role in the highly successful Canadian-Hungarian co-production X Company (2017), an espionage thriller about World War II. This success was followed by her appearance in Duncan Jones' Mute (2018) for Netflix.

The year 2018 also saw her in Der große Rudolph [de], directed by Alexander Adolph, where she portrayed Dolly alongside Hannelore Elsner, Florian Stadlhuber, and Sunny Melles. Additionally, she starred in the political thriller Die Affäre Borgward [de] directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller, and played the lead role in the Sat.1 comedy Babyboom, directed by Kai Meyer-Ricks.^[6] Her role in the ARD drama Daddy Blues [de] involved portraying a young woman who must assume responsibility for her paralyzed friend after an accident.

Since 2018, Mandoki has been widely recognized for her portrayal of Commissioner Karina Szabo in the ZDF Saturday night crime series Erzgebirgskrimi [de]. Several films in the series have been successful, including notable films like Familienband [de] by Thorsten M. Schmidt, which attracted nearly seven million viewers.^[7] In the same year, she made a guest appearance in the film Leberkäsjunkie from the Eberhofer crime series alongside Simon Schwarz and Sebastian Bezzel. In 2019, Mandoki starred in the thriller Jan Römer for ARD, directed by Felix Herzogenrath, as a young investigative journalist.^[8]

Mandoki took a lead role in the ZDFneo series Macht der Kränkung – Sunshine City (2020), directed by Umut Dag, and worked with Wolfgang Murnberger in the Steirerkrimi in Graz, where she portrayed a Hungarian forced prostitute.

Her 2021 projects included a lead role in the Amazon Prime series Der Beischläfer and the highly acclaimed ZDF crime drama Tod einer Hoffnung. The following year, she appeared in the ARD comedy Vätertage, where she made her on-camera singing debut. Mandoki also worked on the BBC series Vienna Blood, filming in Mandoki's second home, Budapest.^[9]

In 2023, Mandoki was featured in the fourth season of Das Boot (Sky) as Dagmar Dewitt.^[3] She also starred as Hedwig Höss in the series The End of Dreams (ARTE), filmed at the Auschwitz site under the direction of Olga Chajdow.^[3] Additionally, she worked on Simon Verhoeven’s Girl You Know It’s True, which delves into the 80s/90s music scene. In the autumn of 2023, Mandoki continued her role as Commissioner Szabo in the ZDF prime time series Erzgebirgskrimi [de], filming two additional episodes. Her performance in the series, which includes episodes directed by Markus Imboden, has been well-received.

Looking ahead, 2024 will see Mandoki in the crime drama Wintermord directed by Tim Trageser^[10] and in the dramatic film Über die Grenze with Thorsten M. Schmidt.^[11] She will also star in the dramedy Petra geht baden in Prague,^[12] and in Vienna, she will take a leading role in the dark comedy Mama ist Besti(e) (AT) alongside Adele Neuhaus, both for ZDF prime time.

• laramandoki.com
• Lara Mandoki at IMDb
• Lara Mandoki at Crew United
• Lara Mandoki at filmportal.de
• Lara Mandoki at Filmmakers Europe
• Lara Mandoki at Agentur Carola Studlar