A Field Guide To Cosima Viola

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As you've probably noticed, we sort of have a weekly thing going with Cosima Viola. Yes, we were initially interested in her because every episode of "Lindenstraße" brings a new bit of nudity, but now it's more than that. We've examined how her character approaches sex, and now we're wondering how the actor approaches her role and how she, as an artist, feels about her eleven-year stint as the same character on the same show.

Cosima Viola was born on July 20, 1988 in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. It's difficult to say how she first got into acting, but it seems like she was born for this career. Although it's not listed on IMDb, her first role was on "Der Fahnder" ("The Investigator") in 1998 when she was only ten years old. Around that time, she joined an agency for young actors, and they quickly hooked her up with the role of Jacqueline "Jack" Aichinger on "Lindenstraße." This was 2001, Cosima was twelve, and she's stuck to this show ever since then.

Until 2008, she attended high school like a normal youngster and even got involved in her school's theater scene, but besides "Lindenstraße," her only professional credits include a couple appearances on different German TV series and a strange film called "Sushi und Gomorrah."

So what's up with the relationship between Jack Aichinger and Cosima Viola? Certainly, there must be something intense about starting a role as a troubled street urchin who gets brought into a family and a decade later ends up as a surrogate mother, but Cosima seems to downplay her bond with her character. In a 2009 interview, she said (translated from German by Google), "Jack is very justice-oriented, just like me. She is also very determined and honest... But there are more differences than similarities." When asked if she has a dream role she's always wanted to play, she responded, "Everything that my character completely contradicts." It sounds like she's getting a bit tired of playing Jack, and she even says that she's been interested in studying photography, but she also notes that she's happy to stick with the show as long as her fans her entertained.

Friends, we tried quite hard to find an interview with Ms. Viola in which she discusses her nude scenes or her character's evolution from a street smart tween to a confident woman--we even searched for any mention of Cosima telling her parents that she'd be naked on TV--but our German search powers are quite limited, and as far as we can tell, Cosima hasn't received that much media exposure. However, we did find out that she's been learning how to train dogs for an organization called BONZZA, and her two-year education will be complete by the end of 2012. Also, we found a tiny interview on the "Lindenstraße" home page in which she says the things that upset her include, "America, unpunctual people, [and] jam."

Based on what we've gathered from the brief interviews with Cosima, we surmise that she's a lady of many interests and passions who's happy to stick with her current ride yet willing to branch out into other projects and media. Perhaps our fascination with her is really an obsession with Jack, and when she's in that role she embodies it completely, but Cosima is her own woman: passionate without being foolish, reserved and responsible, cute as sin.

And we still think her name has something to do with Italo Calvino.

[At top: the first time we saw Cosima Viola on "Lindenstraße"]