Benita Bailey

The German-Ethiopian actress and filmmaker Benita Sarah Bailey (she/her) is known to a wide audience for her title role in the five-part ARD streaming series DIE PFLEGIONÄRIN. Most recently, the versatile actress was in front of the camera alongside David Striesow and Heike Makatsch for the Apple series “Where Is Wanda”.

Benita also works regularly as a voice actress in audio dramas. This year she could be heard in several radio features, with more to come, and she is one of the main characters in the WDR audio drama “Gruß aus der Küche”. Since 2020 she has also been producing her own video podcast YELLIT! FROM THE MOUNTAIN on YouTube.

In 2024 Bailey appeared alongside Bastian Pastewka in the ZDF comedy ALLES GELOGEN and in the fourth season of the ZDF production DOPPELHAUSHÄLFTE, which is now on Netflix. In 2026 she filmed the cinema project ODEUR (DFFB graduation film).

Since autumn 2024 Benita has been performing at the Hessisches Landestheater Marburg in the productions “Johanna*” (director: Miriam Ibrahim), “Ciao, Bella, Ciao” (director: Carola Unser-Lichtweiß) and “Don’t Wake Me Up Before You Go”. At the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar she played the title role in “Iphigenie” in 2025 and 2026; at the Maxim Gorki Theater she performed from 2024 to 2026 in “Blues in Schwarz Weiß”, based on a work by May Ayim.

Together with Jane Chirwa, Bailey founded the Black film production company JABEZA Films, with which she is nominated for the Emotion Award in 2026. Through JABEZA Films she is currently developing two feature films, both funded by FFF Bayern (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern). She is also a board member of Schwarze Filmschaffende e.V.

For her commitment, Bailey was named one of the 100 Women of the Year by Focus magazine in 2022 and won the DEI Initiative Award in 2024. Benita also regularly teaches at the Berlin University of the Arts.