For her role in Four Minutes, 62-year-old Monica Bleibtreu had to endure an arduous make-up session everyday during shooting in order to be transformed into the elderly piano teacher Traude. Trained at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna, Monica Bleibtreu performed in venues such as the Burgtheater, Münchner Kammerspiele, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Schaubühne in Berlin and Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. In 1968, she stood in front of the camera for the first time for the TV film Change. In 1972, she was awarded the Golden Camera for her achievements in acting.

Her films include Adele Spitzender (1972, Director: Peter Raben), Michael Hanek’s Variation (1983), and The Castle (Das Schloss, 1997), Love Is the Beginning of All Terror (Der Beginn aller Schrecken ist Liebe, 1984, Director: Helke Sander), Bibi Blocksberg (2002) and Tom Twyker’s Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt, 1998) in which she played the mother of her real life son, Moritz Bleibtreu, who also appeared in the film. For her role as Katia Mann in Heinrich Breloer’s The Manns – Novel of a Century (Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman) she received the Adolf Grimme Award, and for Maria’s Last Journey (Marias letzte Reise, 2005, Director: Rainer Kaufmann) she was awarded the Bavarian TV Award and the German Television Award, amongst others.