Famous Swiss Film & Theater Personalities

The Paris-born French-Swiss director and screenwriter has the reputation of adding new dimensions to filmmaking with his experimentation, a trend which came to be known as French New Wave. The director of acclaimed films like Breathless, My Life to Live and Pierrot le Fou, Jean-Luc Godard was married to actress Anna Karina. He is regarded as an all-time great director.

Sean Hepburn Ferrer is an American author and film producer who has worked on films, such as Inchon and Blood In Blood Out. Also known for his charity work, Sean established the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund a year after Audrey Hepburn's death. In 2020, he published a children's book, with the proceeds benefitting the European Organisation for Rare Diseases.

Barış Arduç is a Swiss-born Turkish actor best known for his portrayal of Ömer İplikçi in the romantic drama TV series Kiralık Aşk for which he won a couple of Golden Butterfly TV Awards. Also a humanitarian, Arduç has been serving as a goodwill ambassador for an organization called Life Without Cancer Society of Turkey since 2016.

Maximilian Schell was an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Hans Rolfe in the 1961 courtroom drama film, Judgment at Nuremberg. Remembered for his versatility, Schell received the Golden Globe Award for playing Vladimir Lenin in the 1992 TV film, Stalin. A multi-talented personality, Schell was also an accomplished conductor and pianist.

Sofia Milos is an Italian Greek actress and model best known for her portrayal of Yelina Salas in the popular American police procedural TV series, CSI: Miami. Before establishing herself as an actress, Milos entered several beauty pageants, winning provincial, regional, and national contests.

Carla Juri is a Swiss actress best known for her role in the biographical film Paula. She studied theater in London and Los Angeles and traveled across Berlin, London, and Rome to find jobs early in her career. She started acting professionally in the mid-2000s and has since appeared in many critically acclaimed films and TV shows. 

While he initially studied architectural design, Daniel Bernhardt also co-owned a martial arts center with his brother. He later worked as a model in Paris, before stepping into films. Known for his roles in action films such as the Bloodsport franchise, he was later seen as Agent Johnson in The Matrix Reloaded.

Best known for her pathbreaking bestseller On Death and Dying, Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross also made pioneering research in areas such as near-death studies. Her five stages of grief, or the Kübler-Ross model, has been adopted by corporates to help employees deal with loss and change.

Robert Frank was a Swiss documentary filmmaker and photographer best remembered for his photographic book The Americans which earned him comparisons with the likes of Tocqueville. An acclaimed photographer, Robert Frank won many prestigious awards, such as Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography in 1996 and the Edward MacDowell Medal in 2002.

Michelle Hunziker is a Swiss-Italian model, actress, and television hostess. After starting her career as a model by posing for brands, such as Armani, La Perla, and Rocco Barocco, Hunziker established herself as a TV personality, hosting popular shows like Paperissima Sprint and Colpo di Fulmine. Over the years, she has also acted in films and TV series.

The only son of former secretary-general of the UN, Kofi Annan, Kojo Annan is a serial entrepreneur who has been associated with various companies, such as Vector Global and Made in Africa. The Swiss-born Ghanaian-Nigerian was a talented college rugby player and works to provide sports scholarships to African students.

Pipilotti Rist is a Swiss visual artist renowned for producing experimental installation art and video art. Categorized as feminist art, Rist's artwork is also described as abstract art, intimate, and surreal. Over the years, Pipilotti Rist's work has earned her prestigious awards like the Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Joan Miró Prize, and Best Architects '11 Award.

Swiss instrumentalist and composer Adrian von Ziegler, known for his signature long mane, first gained international attention on YouTube, where he has over a million subscribers. A self-proclaimed lover of Celtic and fantasy music, he also often experiments with metal and Oriental music. He was initially known by his pseudonym Indigo.

Born to circus-owner parents, James Thiérrée began performing on stage at age 4. He later stepped into theater and films and gained international fame with his César Award-winning portrayal of George Foottit in the film Chocolat. He is also the grandson of legendary comedian and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.

Joel Basman is a Swiss actor. He began his career as a teenager with a role in the weekly soap opera Lüthi und Blanc. A few years later, he gained much fame for playing an autistic boy in the film Jimmie. While pursuing his acting career, he also completed his training at the European Film Actor School.  

Though born in India, Monisha Kaltenborn moved to Austria as a child. After attaining a master’s degree in law, she worked for the UN and various legal firms. She also headed Sauber Motorsport as its CEO and later formed KDC Racing. The mother of two now lives with her family in Switzerland.

Swiss-born Greek singer-actor Panos Mouzourakis is best known for his roles in the Greek series S1ngles and 4. He had first gained attention with the play Acharnis, which toured around the globe. He has also lent his voice to the Greek version of the hit Disney animated film Frozen.