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Michael Alexander Verhoeven (born 13 July 1938; died 22 April 2024) was a German actor, screenwriter, film director, and producer known internationally for films like The White Rose (1982) and The Nasty Girl (1990).
Raised in Berlin and later Munich, Verhoeven was the son of actress Doris Kiesow (1902–1973) and actor-director Paul Verhoeven (1901–1975), fostering his creative talents from an early age. At nine, he began acting in theater, including a stage adaptation of Erich Kästner's "Dot and Anton," a family friend, and appeared in various films throughout the 1950s.
As a young adult, Verhoeven briefly diverged from the arts to study medicine, a decision his parents, particularly his father—who had served as artistic director at Munich’s Residenz Theatre—disapproved of. Nevertheless, Verhoeven earned his medical doctorate in 1969 and practiced as a physician for several years before returning to filmmaking, driven by his enduring passion.
Verhoeven frequently collaborated with his wife, actress Senta Berger, whom he met at the 1960 Berlinale. Their joint projects included the series Die schnelle Gerdi (1989) about a Munich taxi driver, the miniseries Lilli Lottofee (1992), and the documentary Menschliches Versagen (2008). In 1965, they founded Sentana Film, later joined professionally by their sons and filmmakers Simon and Luca Verhoeven.
After becoming a father in 1972, Verhoeven created a children’s series and wrote and directed the anarchic Krempoli: A Place for Wild Children (1975), featuring guest appearances by himself, his father Paul Verhoeven, his sister Lis Verhoeven, and his wife Senta Berger.
Verhoeven’s work often addressed political themes and historical injustices. His anti-Vietnam War film O.K. (1970) sparked controversy at the Berlinale, leading to the cancellation of the competition that year. The event’s rules were subsequently revised, the Forum section was introduced, and O.K. won the Gold Award for Best Feature Film at the German Film Awards. His politically charged films also include The White Rose (1982), portraying the Scholl siblings, which won the Silver Award for Best Feature Film at the German Film Awards, and the documentary The Second Execution of Romell Broom (2012).
The Nasty Girl (1990), which Verhoeven wrote and directed, received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1991. Based on a true story of a young woman investigating her town’s Nazi past, the film also earned the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlinale, the BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 1995, he directed My Mother's Courage (1995), depicting the deportation of 4,000 Jews from Budapest to Auschwitz in July 1944. Adapted from George Tabori's autobiographical play, with Tabori himself appearing, the film won the Silver Award at the German Film Awards, the Jewish Experience Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival, Best Feature at the Chicago International Film Festival, among others. In 2000, Verhoeven wrote and directed the television film Enthüllung einer Ehe (2000), addressing transgender identities—a subject still largely taboo at the time—winning the Robert Geisendörfer Prize and two FIPAs at the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels in Biarritz. In 2014, he wrote and directed the TV drama Let's Go! (2014), adapted from Laura Waco’s autobiographical novel Von Zuhause wird nichts erzählt about her Jewish family in post-war Munich, which won a German Television Academy Award. The 2016 film Welcome to Germany (2016), co-produced with his son Simon Verhoeven, became the most successful German film that year, garnered numerous awards, and received recognition across Europe.
Together with his wife Senta Berger, Verhoeven received the Federal Cross of Merit in 1999 and the Bavarian Order of Merit in 2002. In 2005, he was awarded the Marion Samuel Prize for his outstanding efforts in combating the forgetting, suppression, and relativization of Nazi-era crimes.
During the 1990s, Verhoeven served as a professor at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg, dedicating himself to mentoring the next generation of filmmakers. He was also a founding member of the German Film Academy in 2003.
