“I think laughter and celebration need to be around the corner in any tragedy,” says actor Nina Hoss, who heads to an old cemetery in Berlin to learn her lines
This story is taken from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of AnOther Magazine:
“There’s an old cemetery in Berlin-Mitte – the Alter Garnisonfriedhof – where I go to learn my lines. It has a light-heartedness to it, which is unusual for a cemetery. It was founded in the 18th century and is no longer open for burials. There’s a big wall around it and only one entrance. Inside, it’s like a meadow and, in the summer, people take their sunbathing towels and their picnics, their dogs. They read their books and smoke cigarettes, resting their heads on the gravestones of poets, soldiers and members of the aristocracy. Of course you’re not supposed to sunbathe in a cemetery but it’s a wonderful thing to see. It’s peaceful and respectful and people really enjoy themselves. It’s like being among the dead and the living, and not in a grandiose or oppressive way, which is beautiful. I think that’s why everyone goes there again and again, and you often see the same faces. I first came across it by chance when I was at drama school. It became this place I’d go to read through my text before going to the theatre, sitting on my favourite bench. It makes me think about how I approach my work and my collaborations – I like to look for the lightness in things, to find the freedom, the space to open up and appreciate my surroundings, to find the fun and be cheeky with the material. Otherwise it doesn’t work. I think laughter and celebration need to be around the corner in any tragedy.”
Nina Hoss has wanted to perform for as long as she can remember. “When I was five years old, my father had a party and I went up on stage and sang Where Have All the Flowers Gone? by Marlene Dietrich in front of everyone,” the actor recalls. Hoss’s father was one of the founding members of Germany’s Green Party, her mother an actor turned director, which is perhaps where Hoss gets her theatrical bone from. At 19, she landed the lead role in Bernd Eichinger’s A Girl Called Rosemary, which propelled her to stardom, but she chose to finish her studies at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, a school she’d dreamt of attending since she was young. Some decades on, the actor’s oeuvre spans film, theatre and television. She starred in Todd Field’s 2022 film Tár as first violinist Sharon Goodnow, a patient wife to the imperious conductor Lydia (Cate Blanchett). Last year, she played Lyubov Ranevskaya in the Donmar Warehouse production of The Cherry Orchard in New York. She will return to the stage at the National Theatre alongside Blanchett for the world premiere of Electra/Persona this autumn, and to screens in Mariko Minoguchi’s The Other Side, filmed in the Dolomites, as well as Niki Byrne’s coming-of-age drama The Julia Set, opposite Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs and Chase Infiniti.
This story features in the Spring/Summer 2026 issue, marking 25 years of AnOther Magazine, on sale now.
