About me.

Welcome! I’m Deborah — an actor, martial artist and producer, and, perhaps most importantly, someone who has always been curious about where life might take me if I’m brave enough to follow its calling.

Beginnings

My journey into acting started in Germany, where, as a young girl, I discovered the magic of theatre. I was endlessly curious, loved playing different characters, and could spend hours drawing, scribbling, and creating little worlds of my own. I rarely wanted to put the pencil down. Looking back, I think I have always had a need to imagine, explore, and make things.

Since then, I sometimes feel as though I have already lived several different lives.

I was an au pair in England. I studied Business Administration in Germany. I volunteered at a kitesurf school in Portugal because I had always dreamed of becoming a surfer girl. I have tried surfing in places all over the world, with varying degrees of success but always with a lot of enthusiasm. I love that feeling of being slightly out of my comfort zone. Maybe that is why I have always been drawn to adrenaline, adventure, and experiences that scare me a little at first.

My acting journey took me from Germany to England and eventually across the Atlantic. I trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the Oxford School of Drama before moving to New York City and studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

New York

New York became an important chapter in my life as I started performing professionally. I performed in productions including “Sunday on the Rocks”, “Status Quo”, and Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure”. I particularly loved playing Isabella in “Measure for Measure”, directed by Dave Demke. I became fascinated by her contradictions, her strength, and the beauty and complexity of Shakespeare’s language. One of my favorite lines from the play is Lucio’s:

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”

Los Angeles

Then came Los Angeles, where I continued to develop my craft and explore the many sides of the entertainment industry. I starred in several student and independent short films, including projects by UCLA and USC graduate filmmakers. Yet theatre kept pulling me back.

At the 2025 Hollywood Fringe Festival, I produced and starred in “Face Divided”, playing Debbie Irons. Taking responsibility not only for my own performance but also for bringing the entire production together was challenging, exciting, and incredibly rewarding. The production received strong reviews, with critics describing my performance as “raw and powerful,” a “masterclass in performance,” and “theatre at its best.”

That experience made me realize that I don’t only want to wait for opportunities to arrive. I want to help create them.

My theatre work in Los Angeles also led to another important milestone: becoming a member of Actors’ Equity Association. But acting has never been the only part of my story.

Martial arts & stunts

I grew up training in karate from the age of six and became the first woman to earn a black belt at Karate Dojo Konstanz e.V. My love of movement, martial arts, and adrenaline eventually led me to the International Stunt School in Seattle, where I found a way to bring my physical background and my acting together. During the program, my class was followed by The New York Times for a feature on stunt performers.

Berlin & producing

My journey eventually brought me back to Germany, this time to Berlin, where I began working behind the scenes and discovering the many different sides of production. I had previously worked as a production assistant for theatre in New York City, but Berlin was where I first worked as a production assistant on independent short films and then stepped into the role of first assistant director. As a next step, I put on my producer hat. I became a member of Producers of Germany e.V. (PROG) and am now producing my first feature film, a romantic comedy, with Salinger Productions.

Today

And somehow, all of these experiences have shaped the artist I am today.

They have made me curious about people, fearless about starting over, and comfortable stepping into unfamiliar worlds. They have taught me that I don’t have to choose between the different parts of myself. I can be an actor who loves both Shakespeare and action films, a martial artist who embraces strength alongside vulnerability, and a performer curious to understand what happens behind the camera.

Today, my work is increasingly international. I love moving between different cultures, countries, and creative environments, and I am building a career that reflects that. I teach acting internationally, including workshops at The Bridge Theatre in Brussels, while continuing to work and develop as an actor and filmmaker.

Philosophy

For me, acting has never been about simply pretending to be someone else. It is about curiosity and empathy. About understanding people I might otherwise never meet. About finding truth in characters who can be vulnerable, complicated, funny, dangerous, contradictory, or all of those things at once. I believe performance can do more than entertain. It can challenge perspectives and offer a way of seeing ourselves and the world a little differently.

As Stella Adler once described it, theatre is a “seeing place”, a place where we come to see the truth about ourselves and about life. I believe that as artists, we also carry a responsibility to contribute to the society we live in, to question what we take for granted, and to illuminate truths that might otherwise remain unseen.