Helena Zengel
Biography
Helena Zengel is a German actress. She is best known for her roles in the films System Crasher (2019) and News of the World (2020). After System Crasher won a number of international awards, Zengel was cast by Universal Pictures to play a leading role in the American Western film News of the World directed by the British film director Paul Greengrass, which was her first international film. In this adaptation of the 2016 novel of the same name by Canadian-American writer Paulette Jiles, which starred Tom Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kidd, Zengel stars as a 10-year-old German orphan named Johanna Leonberger who was raised by the Kiowa; most of her performance is in the Kiowa language. For her performance, Zengel received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Zengel also dubbed herself in the Italian, German, French and Spanish versions; the dubbing is limited to the lines she spoke in English.
Movie Appearances
The Legend of Ochi
as Yuri
2025
A Christmas Number One
as Nina Cutter
2021
Sommermärchen
as Lilly Weyer
2017
Transamazonia
as Rebecca Byrne
2025
Dark Blue Girl
as Luca
2017
Looping
as Lilly
2016
Route B96
as Karlotta
2016
System Crasher
as Benni
2019
News of the World
as Johanna Leonberger
2020
Der gute Bulle
as Fabienne
2017
Baby Bitchka
as spielendes Mädchen
2020
Bloody Tennis
as Heidi
TBA
Exploding Ducks
TBA
