Maia Morgenstern extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Maia Morgenstern (born May 1, 1962) is a Romanian film and stage actress,¹ described by Florin Mitu of AMOS News as "a symbol of Romanian theater and film".² In the English-speaking world, she is probably best known for the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. In Romania, she has been nationally known since her 1992 role as Nela in BalanÅ£a, a film known in the United States as The Oak, set during the waning days of Communist Romania.¹

Contents 1 Biography 2 Filmography 3 Notes 4 External links

Biography

Born in Bucharest, in a Jewish family,¹ she graduated from the Film and Theatre Academy of Bucharest in 1985. She then played at the youth theater (Teatrul Tineretului) in Piatra NeamÅ£ until 1988, and at the Teatrul Evreiesc de Stat (State Jewish Theatre) in Bucharest 1988-1990. From 1990–1998 she was a member of the company of the National Theatre in Bucharest, and since 1998 of Teatrul Bulandra, also in Bucharest;³ in addition, she continues to act at the State Jewish Theatre and other Bucharest theaters¹ and elsewhere in Romania.³ Among her notable stage roles in recent years, in a Romanian-language production of The Blue Angel (ÃŽngerul Albastru in Romanian) at Bucharest's Odeon Theater, in 2001-2 she played (to great critical acclaim) Lola Lola, the character made famous by Marlene Dietrich. At the same time, she was also playing the role of Kathleen Hogan in a Romanian-language production of Israel Horovitz's Park Your Car in Harvard Yard at the State Jewish Theater.¹

Morgenstern has appeared in numerous films, primarily in Hungarian and Romanian-language roles. In The Passion of the Christ, she performs a role in Aramaic, but like the other actors in the cast of that film, she simply memorized her lines phonetically.⁴

Her surname Morgenstern means "Morning Star", a title of the Virgin Mary, the character she played in The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson, a devout Traditionalist Catholic, thought this of great significance when casting her.⁵ In interviews, she has defended The Passion against allegations of antisemitism,⁶ saying that the high priest Caiaphas is portrayed not as a representative of the Jewish people, but as a leader of the establishment, adding that "Authorities throughout history have persecuted individuals with revolutionary ideas."⁷

She has been married twice and has 3 children: Tudor Aaron, Eva Leea Cabiria and Ana Isadora.⁸

She has won several major awards as an actress:

• Best Actress for: Cei care platesc cu viaÅ£a ("Those who pay with their lives", 1991), Romanian Filmmakers Union
• UNITER (Romanian theater association) Lucia Sturdza Bulandra Prize (1990) for her stage role as Medea in Trilogia antică (Ancient Trilogy), directed by Andrei Åžerban.⁸
• Best Actress for: BalanÅ£a (1992), European Film Awards⁹
• Best Actress for: BalanÅ£a (1992), Cinéma Tout Ecran (Geneva Film Festival)⁹
• Best Actress for: BalanÅ£a (1992), Romanian Filmmakers Union⁹
• UNITER best actress award (1993), for her role in Ghetto at the Romanian National Theatre.⁸
• UNITER (1995) award for her performance in the stage production of Lola Blau.⁸
• Best Film Actress for: The Passion of the Christ (2004), Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards (EMMA Awards), UK¹⁰

Filmography

Where translations of titles are italicized, it indicates use of the translated title for the film in English-language release.

Film	Year	Role	Language
The House of Terror	2008 (pre-production)	Eszter Somos	English
Eve	2008 (filming)		English
The Fence	2007 (in production)	Herman's Mother	English
Mansfeld	2006	Mrs. Mansfeld	Hungarian / English / Russian / German
Margo	2006	Margo's Stepmother	Romanian
Visuri otrăvite ("Poisoned Dreams")	2006	Ada's mother	Romanian
15	2005	Irene	Romanian / French
L'Homme pressé	2005, TV	Bonne de Bois de Rose	French
Orient Express	2004	Amalia Frunzetti	Romanian
Damen tango	2004		Romanian
The Passion of the Christ	2004	Mary	Aramaic
Căsătorie imposibilă ("Impossible marriage")	2004, TV series		Romanian
Bolondok éneke (Fool's Song)	2003	Gina	Hungarian / French / Romanian
A Rózsa énekei (Rose's Songs)	2003	Olga	Hungarian
Patul lui Procust (Procust's Bed After the novel Patul lui Procust, by Camil Petrescu	2001	Doamna T.	Romanian
Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula	2000, TV	Woman at Fountain	English
Marie, Nonna, la vierge et moi	2000	Nonna	French
Kínai védelem (Chinese Defense)	1999		Hungarian
Faţă în faţă (Face to Face)	1999		Romanian
Triunghiul morţii ("Triangle of Death")	1999	Regina Maria	Romanian
1998, TV, short		Hungarian
Witman fiúk (Witman Boys)	1997	Mrs. Witman	Hungarian
Omul zilei (The Man of the Day	1997		Romanian
Ulysses' Gaze(original Greek title: Το Βλέμμα του Οδυσσέα, To Vlemma tou Odyssea	1995	playing opposite Harvey Keitel as Ulysses' wife	English / Greek
Siódmy pokój (The Seventh Room	1995	Edith Stein (the starring role)	Hungarian
Nostradamus	1994	Helen	English
Trahir (Betrayal, Romanian title: A trada)	1993	Woman in Prison	French / Romanian
Casa din vis ("The House from the Dream")	1993		Romanian
Cel mai iubit dintre pămînteni ("The Earth's Most Beloved Son"). After the novel Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni, by Marin Preda	1993		Romanian
Balanţa (The Oak)	1992	Nela (the starring role)	Romanian
1992		Romanian
Băiatul cu o singură bretea, also known as Flăcăul cu o singura bretea ("The Boy with a Single Brace")	1991		Romanian
Cei care plătesc cu viaţa (Those Who Pay with Their Lives)	1991		Romanian
Pasaj	1990		Romanian
Marea sfidare ("The great defiance")	1989		Romanian
Maria ÅŸi marea ("Maria and the Sea")	1988	Maria	Romanian
Anotimpul iubirii (The Season of Love)	1986		Romanian
Secretul lui Bachus (The Secret of Bacchus)	1984	The girl in the restaurant (as Maia Morgenstern Istodor)	Romanian
Dreptate în lanţuri (Chained Justice)	1983		Romanian
Prea cald pentru luna mai ("Too hot for the month of May")	1983		Romanian

Source: IMDB, except as noted. Accessed 21 December 2007. IMDB omits certain Romanian letters, which have been corrected.

Notes

External links

• Maia Morgenstern at the Internet Movie Database
• (Romanian) 2007 AMOS News Interview with numerous photographs.