German actress Sandra Hüller has revealed that a visit to a job centre helped her find her way into acting, long before she became an internationally recognised film star.
Speaking on the US talk show Late Night with Seth Meyers, the 48-year-old actress recalled how she struggled to find information about becoming an actress and eventually turned to a government employment office for guidance.
“I had to go to an office, a job centre or something, to find out how to become an actress, because nobody could explain it to me,” Hüller told host Seth Meyers.
Raised in the Thuringian towns of Oberhof and Friedrichroda, Hüller grew up in a family of farmers, weavers and educators, with no connections to the arts. She said a teacher encouraged her to join her school’s drama group when she was a child, although she did not initially know what career she wanted to pursue.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to be. Maybe a nurse, that would have been great too,” she recalled.
Her interest in acting developed after she attended a youth theatre festival in Berlin, which eventually inspired her to apply to drama school. Before doing so, she used a career guidance computer at the job centre to explore possible professions.
“It was before the internet existed,” she said, describing a system where people could enter their career interests and find information about different occupations. Somewhere in the listings, she discovered acting.
From German theatre to Hollywood
Hüller has since established herself as one of Germany’s internationally recognised actresses, gaining wider attention in Hollywood with the film Astronaut. She is now promoting her latest project, Digger, in which she stars alongside Tom Cruise.
The film, set for release in German cinemas on October 1, features Hüller as the half-sister of Cruise’s character.
During her appearance on Late Night, she also shared an amusing detail about her early impressions of the Hollywood star. She first watched Cruise in Top Gun (1986) and Days of Thunder (1990), but initially had no idea he was American.
“Of course, in the dubbed versions,” she explained. “We speak German. I didn’t even know he was American until I got older.”
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