Sarah Alles: ‘I don’t take that for granted’

German actress Sarah Alles is a familiar face in the German TV landscape. She speaks to Discover Germany, Austria & Switzerland about her latest projects, her meditation podcast, her love for Berlin, the importance of reading and much, much more.

You were discovered by a talent scout when you were 12 years old. If this wouldn’t have happened, what would you have become?
S. Alles: I already wanted to become an actress as a young girl. I’m really grateful that this actually happened and that I can make a living from acting – I don’t take that for granted. People and their stories have always interested me. I got offered my first big role right before my school leaving examinations and I was meant to study psychology after that. If I wouldn’t have gotten this role, I might have become a therapist, instead.

You’ve lived in London for a few years and currently reside in Berlin. Why is Berlin your chosen home? What makes this city so special to you?
S. Alles: I was acting at a theatre in London and could really imagine living there again for a certain period of time, but something always pulls me back to my hometown. In Berlin, that’s where my friends and family live. Here, I was born and grew up as the daughter of a Swabian mother and an Iranian father. Berlin is a multicultural mix – just like I am. I love the bustling, pulsating city where you can experience everything, while also being able to enjoy wonderful green sanctuaries, such as the Grunewald or the climbing park Jungfernheide. And when I really want to release some energy, I head to the Chimosa martial-arts studio in Berlin-Mitte.

Let’s talk about Kreuzfahrt ins Glück, in which you played a leading role as a young doctor. What was so special about shooting in Normandy?
S. Alles: Filming with the Traumschiff crew is always something really special. On set, there is a really loving, familiar atmosphere. And it all gets rounded off by wonderful settings. We visited magical places that looked like they were painted: Monet’s gardens, Étretat’s cliffs and Deauville’s beaches.

Which other projects can we look forward to in 2020? Do you have any news for us?
S. Alles: I started my own meditation podcast at the beginning of the year. Meditating has extremely changed my life in a positive way. I really want to share this and inspire more people to meditate. And that’s why I bring out a new episode of Power Pause every week. It’s supposed to be a small break for relaxing and it deals with different topics every time: switching off, focusing on certain tasks, help for important decisions, calmness and so on. The five- to ten-minute-long power pauses can be easily integrated into one’s own everyday life. Head to power.sarahalles.com to find out more. And, of course, other film projects are also planned. This year started with an independent movie, the thriller Overdose is expected to come out at the beginning of 2021, and the filming for one of my favourite crime series, Wilsberg, will start soon, too.

You’ve already been seen in numerous films and series, such as Das Geheimnis im Wald alongside Christoph Waltz, Heiter bis tödlich: Akte Ex, Ein Fall Für Zwei and Beck is back!. Which production do you remember most and why?
S. Alles: I could tell an anecdote about each shoot because I am really lucky to have always worked with great colleagues. Filming with Christoph Waltz was really special, even though it was quite a long time ago. In the story, I was his student and we had a secret, yet purely platonic love affair and read poems to each other. Suddenly, the girl gets found dead in his front yard. This very scene was a special challenge, because it was extremely cold and I wasn’t allowed to shiver. When we saw the outtakes in retrospect, in which I shivered extensively, we really had to laugh.

In your free time you are committed to the ‘Stiftung Lesen’ (reading foundation) – how does reading help people? Why should we all spend more time reading?
S. Alles: New worlds can develop through books which let us experience adventures, escape everyday life, amuse us, comfort us, make us think and teach us important things. Reading trains our creativity and imagination unlike any other medium and we can do it anytime and everywhere – we only need a good book.

And last but not least: what other wishes and dreams do you still have?
S. Alles: In particular, I hope that the things that run so smoothly right now will continue to do so: best health, being surrounded by my loved ones and many great role offerings. I don’t really need anything more to be happy.