Judith Keller
Actress, Director, Musician, Playwright, Sailor …

Judith Keller was born in Basel and lives in Vienna. Music and theatre have been part of her life since childhood. Her artistic training took her from studying violin at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, to the École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq, and on to acting studies at the Hochschule der Künste Bern. She received singing lessons from, among others, Margaritha Kyriaki and Renate Holm. She further developed her film work with Walter Lott, John Costopulos, Krzysztof Kieślowski and Edward Żebrowski.
She was a member of the ensemble at Volkstheater Wien for ten years and at Tiroler Landestheater for thirteen years. Her work as an actress and director has taken her to theatres and festivals in Vienna, Basel, Bern, Salzburg, Munich and Tyrol, including Schauspielhaus Salzburg, the Salzburg Festival, Tiroler Volksschauspiele and Meraner Festspiele.
Most recently, she has played Mother Courage, Queen Elizabeth, Clytemnestra, Irina Arkadina, Dorine, Edith Piaf and Puck – to name just a few of her roles. She develops solo performances and musical-literary programmes ranging from Brecht and chansons to tango ballads.
As a singer, speaker and violinist, she also works in concert and music theatre productions, including Lady Macbeth in Norbert Zehm’s Cadence Macbeth, Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, as well as Tarantella, Encore and Mozartharlekinade by Jürg Wyttenbach.
On screen, she has appeared as Angie in Der Bessere gewinnt, in the television film Lina, and as Margit in Present of the Past – Inside a Family, filmed in Los Angeles/Hollywood.
Alongside her stage work, she shares her experience as a teacher at acting, opera and musical theatre schools, teaching voice and speech, vocal training, improvisation and scene study.
Since 2013, Judith Keller has worked as a freelance artist. She directs, acts and writes. Her plays include Die Wut der Sanftmütigen (Tiroler Dramatiker:innen Festival 2014), Federleicht (Sessler Verlag, world premiere 2018, invited to the Hin & Weg Festival in Litschau) and La Paloma oder das Ende der Welt (world premiere 2023).