Michael Verhoeven was born in Berlin in 1938. In the 1950s, he was a cinema and theatre actor, and he also studied medicine in Berlin and Munich. In 1966, he completed the state medical examination, becoming a qualified doctor. One year later, he directed his first feature film Paarungen. Since then he has received numerous awards for several of his other films, including O.K (1970), The White Rose (Die weisse Rose, 1982), and My Mother's Courage (Mutters Courage, 1996). His 1990 film The Nasty Girl (Das schreckliche Mädchen) was nominated for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe and won a Silver Bear in Berlin for direction. Verhoeven is currently married to actress Senta Berger and continues to produce and direct, having set up his own company, Sentana Filmproduktion, in 1965.
