Katja Benrath Wiki: Actress, Net Worth, 'Watu Wote / All of Us' & Facts To Know

For people who love to watch documentaries and films based on real life events, you may or may not know a thing or two about Katja Benrath, a German actress, and director. She is one of the hottest directors in Hollywood right now thanks to her films that tell beautiful stories about real life. Some of Benrath’s films are “No One Pukes in Heaven,” “Wo Warst Du,” “Secrecies,” “Tilda,” and the film that was nominated for an Oscar 2018, “Watu Wote/All of Us. The actress has also appeared in plays like “Karo and God” and “Tom Turbo,” a TV series. If you don’t know much about Benrath, you're about to learn more about her. 38-year-old Katja Benrath was born in Erbach and grew up in Lubeck, both cities in Germany. The actress graduated from Katharineum in Lubeck and proceeded to do an apprenticeship as a tailor. Benrath worked at the Wuppertal where she sewed costumes. She studied singing and acting at the Vienna Conservatory in Vienna between 2002 and 2006. At that time, Benrath began participating in film and television productions, as well as the theater and musicals where the actress became inspired to write short films and direct them. She then joined the Hamburg Media School in 2014 and graduated in 2016 with Master of Arts in Film. “Watu Wote/All of Us” was Benrath’s graduation work. For this piece she received the Students Academy Award and was nominated for Oscar 2018.

Watu Wote is based on the real-life events that happened in Northern Kenya on December 21, 2015. On that fateful day, Al-Shabab militants stopped a bus heading from the border town Mandera, to the country’s capital, Nairobi. The terrorists, who of course had been radicalized through tough Islam teachings, asked the Muslim passengers on the bus to identify the Christians. The moment the bus was stopped the passengers knew that it was Al Shabab, so some Muslim women gave the Christian women their extra hijabs to disguise them as Muslims. The militants couldn’t see who they were and when they were asked to identify the Christians, they refused to comply. Katja Benrath’s film narrates the harrowing encounter that took place that day. The actress and director stated that the movie put Germany and Kenya on the map and made them proud that a story of their own, and by their own was getting world wide recognition. Benrath also said that the motive of the film was to explore the tension in the East African nation and that the incident happened when there was a rift between the Muslims and Christians due to terror attacks. The attack helped to cement the relationship between the two religions.

Benrath’s film highlights the life of a fictional character named Jua, depicted by Kenyan actress, Adelyne Wairimu. She is a Christian Kenyan woman who recently lost her husband and child after a terror attack. For that reason, she is suspicious which she comes into contact with anyone she suspects might by Muslim. Jua sits beside a Muslim teacher on the bus, a man by the name of Salah Farah who Jua still suspects might be a terrorist. When the bus is attacked, and Salah defends the non-Muslim passengers, Salah tries to convince the terrorists how the true Islam dictates love. The militants take no pity on the man and instead of listening to what he has to say, shoot him. In the real incident, the police came to their rescue but already Salah and the driver had been shot. In the film, Jua places her reassuring hand on the injured Salah as the bus escapes. Sarah died less than a month after the attack, and he was declared a national hero by the president. The film has not only earned Benrath some recognition but has also grown her net worth from the film.

Katja Benrath was trained to be a theatre actress and it's all she ever wanted to do. She wasn’t interested in films and movies back then and when she got the chance to work behind the scenes with the camera she fell in love with it. She developed the urge to tell beautiful stories that she wanted to share with an audience so that became her goal. Her first successful film was “No One Pukes in Heaven.” Her other projects include “Secrecies,” “Wo Warst Du,” and ”Tilda.”

Benrath stated that the best advice she ever received was to always give her best when working on a film but to remember that it’s not her whole life. Therefore, the actress puts herself in projects that she feels are important to her life but at the same time she still reminds herself that it’s just a movie. Benrath is careful not to lose herself while building her career and her overall net worth.

Benrath feels as though it is her job to tell the story as it is without emitting a story or by adding fake dialogue to a film. For that reason alone, Benrath works with people she can trust. She said that it is never essential to change the exact details and she tells the story as though it should be told. Benrath also mentioned accuracy by stating that one of the ways to make your film look truthful is being accurate about the details in the film. It's important to considering how the landscape, setting and the people were and how to place them in the film that way.

Katja Benrath’s net worth is not clear at this time but it appears as though made a significant fortune from her award-winning films.

Being nominated for the Academy Awards was a big deal for Benrath who is just growing as a director. We hope she will win the Oscar 2018.