Melika Foroutan is an actor who studied philosophy, English and history in Cologne before completing her acting training at the Berlin University of the Arts from 1999 to 2003. She then joined the Schauspiel Leipzig theatre company. For her leading role in the feature film Pari by Iranian director Siamak Etemadi, which premiered at the 2020 Berlinale, she received the 2021 Hellenic Film Academy Award for Best Actress. She is currently filming the third season of the International Emmy Award-winning Netflix series The Empress and has been the new Frankfurt Tatort detective alongside Edin Hasanovic since 2025. Foroutan lives in Berlin.

As of March 2026