Mala Emde
Personal details
  • Born:
    • Birthday: 1996-04-22
    • Born Place: Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Mala Emde

Mala Emde (born April 22, 1996, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany) is a German actress acclaimed for her compelling performances in film and television. She is particularly recognized for her role in the 2025 film Köln 75, where she portrays Vera Brandes, the teenager who organized the legendary 1975 Keith Jarrett concert in Cologne. Her portrayal earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the 2025 German Film Awards (Lolas). Emde comes from a creative background; her father, Thomas Emde, is a light artist, and her mother, Cathrin Ehrlich, is a film festival director. She has an older sister and grew up in Frankfurt am Main. From 2009 to 2012, she attended the Tanz, Theater & Musik studio in Frankfurt, where she debuted in Janusz Głowacki's Die Aschenkinder and Friedrich Schiller's Turandot . Emde began her acting career at the age of 11, making her television debut in the 2008 episode "Tod im OP" of the RTL series Post Mortem. She later appeared in several Tatort episodes and ZDF series such as SOKO Köln and Heldt . In 2015, she gained significant recognition for her portrayal of Anne Frank in the docudrama My Daughter Anne Frank, earning the Bavarian Television Award for Best Young Actress . Emde pursued formal training at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, graduating in 2020. Her filmography includes notable roles in 303 (2018), And Tomorrow the Entire World (2020), and Blind at Heart (2023) . Beyond acting, Emde is multilingual, fluent in English, French, and Spanish, and possesses a range of physical skills, including rock climbing, boxing, skating, and horse riding.

Person History