Judging from her presence in the media in January and February alone, 2009 could very well become the year of Ulrike Folkerts. While last year, we mostly saw her promoting the book that she and her partner, artist Katharina Schnitzler, wrote together, she’s now back as an actress both on TV and onstage, and some of her roles couldn’t be further from “Lena Odenthal”:

• On TV, she can be seen in the mini-series “Die Rebellin” (ZDF, 5.1., 7.1. and 11.1.2009), in which she plays Olga Schmitt, a radio technician who helps the main characters played by Alexandra Neldel and David Rott build affordable TV sets in postwar-Germany. (Watch an interview with her in which she talks about her role in the ZDF Mediathek – Making of, Part 6) Also in January, she has a guest appearance in the TV series “Türkisch für Anfänger” (ARD, 29.1.2009). And in February, Folkerts can first be seen as Lena Odenthal in a brand-new episode of “Tatort” and the very next day in the TV movie “Willkommen zu Hause” about a soldier who suffers from posstraumatic stress after returning home from a combat mission in Afghanistan.

Ulrike Folkerts (with Adnan Maral) in “Türkisch für Anfänger”

• Starting January 15th, Ulrike Folkerts can also be seen onstage in „Spurensuche“ (Ernst-Deutsch-Theater, Hamburg, 15.1.-21.2.2009) as the mother of a little boy who was murdered by a 16-year-old. In an attempt to deal with the situation, she gets in touch with the mother of the murderer, played by Suzanne von Borsody. The two women talked about their difficult roles in today’s issue of daily newspaper “Hamburger Abendblatt”.

Ulrike Folkerts and Suzanne von Borsody

(Pictures: ARD/Richard Hübner, www.ernst-deutsch-theater.de)

Judging from her presence in the media in January and February alone, 2009 could very well become the year of Ulrike Folkerts. While last year, we mostly saw her promoting the book that she and her partner, artist Katharina Schnitzler, wrote together, she’s now back as an actress both on TV and onstage, and ...