Movies

Valerie Pachner (born 26 June 1987) is an Austrian actress.

Life and work
Valerie Pachner grew up in Bad Schallerbach, Austria, and studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna from 2009 to 2013. She was then part of the ensemble cast at the Residenztheater in Munich, under artistic director Martin Kušej until 2017. Her work on stage was awarded twice in 2016.

Pachner starred as the female lead in the 2015 film Bad Luck (directed by Thomas Woschitz), which was nominated for the Max-Ophüls-Preis. After that she appeared in Elisabeth Scharang's Jack and Maria Schrader's biopic of the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, Vor der Morgenröte (Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe), playing Zweig's stepdaughter alongside Barbara Sukowa and Josef Hader as Zweig.

For her portrayal of Egon Schiele's muse Wally Neuzil in Dieter Berner's Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden she was awarded the Austrian Film Award and the Romy.

In 2019 The Ground Beneath My Feet by Marie Kreutzer was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Pachner's leading performance was critically acclaimed internationally and earned her three awards, including the German Acting Award for Best Actress. The film had a limited theatrical release in the U.S. and was named one of The 10 Best Movies of 2019 by Vanity Fair.

The same year, Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life with Pachner playing the female lead, Franziska Jägerstätter, premiered in competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival. It was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival and the Deauville American Film Festival. IndieWire called her performance as one of the best by an actress in 2019.