Sabine Timoteo

Acting

Sabine Timoteo

Born 1975-03-25 · Bern, Switzerland

Sabine Timoteo, born Sabine Hagenbüchle on 25 March 1975 in Bern, is a Swiss actress and former dancer. She fluently speaks German, French, English, Italian and Spanish. She studied dance and won the Prix de Lausanne for "best young dancer". Her film debut was in Philip Gröning's L'Amour, l'Argent, l'Amour, which was shot in 1996 but released in 2000. For this role, she won the Swiss Film Award for Best Actress. Between 1997 and 2000, before fully embarking on her acting career, she trained as a professional cook in Bern. After marrying a man, she took the name Sabine Timoteo, under which she built the majority of her film career. She continued to gain acclaim with major roles in films such as Ghosts (2005), The Free Will (2006), Color of the Ocean (2012), Cyanide (2013), Futuro Beach (2014), The Wonders (2014) and Center of My World (2016). In more recent years she has worked in several notable projects, including Meanwhile on Earth (2024), Chaos & Silence (2025) and Transamazonia (2025).

Acting credits

The Courageous poster
7.3

In a small town on the edge of wild country, an eccentric and delinquent mother has had enough of the rules. Crushed by her mistakes and by a society that doesn't give a damn – or a second chance – to people like her, she'll do anything to prove to her children, and to herself, that she still is a good person.

The Courageous

2025

The Collini Case poster
7.4

A young lawyer stumbles upon a vast conspiracy while investigating a brutal murder case.

The Collini Case

2019

Ghosts poster
6.1

Nina, a mentally ill teenage orphan, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fall in love but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. Meanwhile, Francoise is picked up at a Berlin psychiatric hospital by her husband, Pierre. After spotting Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but no one believes her.

Ghosts

2005

Center of My World poster
7.1

A strange family: 17-year-old Phil lives with his mother and twin sister in an old mansion on the outskirts of town. When he returns from summer camp, the mood in the mansion has soured somehow. Phil doesn’t worry about it, hanging out with his best friend Kat instead. When he starts to feel attracted to a mysterious new student at school, Phil is plunged into emotional turmoil only exacerbated by the trouble at home.

Center of My World

2016

Human Factors poster
4.8

To escape mounting tensions at the advertising agency they co-own, French-German couple Nina and Jan whisk their kids, Max and Emma, away to their seaside vacation home. The couple has signed a new politically charged client, forcing them to confront their clashing priorities. But what’s meant to be an idyllic off-season retreat turns sinister when burglars tear through the house, unseen by anyone except Nina. Though at first the aftermath brings the family closer, it’s short-lived once Max reveals he glimpsed his father hiding during the break-in. As the police investigate and the evidence doesn’t add up, the account of what took place begins to unravel alongside the couple’s faith in each other.

Human Factors

2022

Breakaway poster
5.6

After running away to try to find her father, Manon manages to free herself from this family bond and to rebuild herself in an unexpected way in order to reconnect with her dream: becoming a professional ice hockey player.

Breakaway

2023

The Wonders poster
6.8

In the Tuscan countryside, a family of traditional honey farmers struggles to make ends meet. The household consists of only daughters—four of them—led by the eldest, Gelsomina, who takes on the responsibilities of the family. When a small boy is sent to stay with them for rehabilitation, their routine is disrupted. As financial troubles threaten their home, Gelsomina sees an opportunity in a reality TV contest searching for 'Italy’s Most Traditional Family.' Willing to expose their secluded life for the prize money, she clashes with her father’s rigid ways in a bid to secure their future.

The Wonders

2014

Violet poster
7.3

After an argument with his mother, 12-year-old Dan, who suffers from scoliosis, seeks love and intimacy from 17-year-old Anna, who is supposed to look after him. While his mother, who works for a security company, is on the night shift, Dan and Anna cross set boundaries.

Violet

2024

Thunder poster
5.2

Summer 1900, Switzerland. Elisabeth, 17, is about to take her vows when the sudden death of her older sister forces her to leave the convent and return to the family farm. Stifled by the suffocating and strict rules of the village, walking in her sister’s step to uncover the mystery of her death, Elisabeth is slowly driven to rebel against the local order and for her right to live her life.

Thunder

2022

The Chronicles of Melanie poster
5.6

The 14th of June 1941, Soviet-occupied Latvia. Without warning, the authorities break into the house of Melanie and her husband Alexander, and force them to leave everything behind. Together with more than 15 000 Latvians, Melanie and her son get deported to Siberia. In her fight against cold, famine and cruelty, she only gains new strength through the letters she writes to Alexander, full of hope for a free Latvia and a better tomorrow.

The Chronicles of Melanie

2016

Formentera poster
4.3

Nina and Ben go on a vacation without their daughter to the Mediterranean. Their vacation is going well until Ben goes swimming with a young woman during a wild beach party and she does not come back.

Formentera

2012

Wildcats poster
7.3

Orphan, Oskar lives with Elvis and Fanny Egger, his guardians. Oskar is waiting for one thing, the majority, to finally be able to go to Zimbabwe and start a new life. While Oskar strives to raise money to get there, Elvis takes Oskar's success and makes it cost him to graduate. The balance of power is becoming more and more tense, swinging into a violence that will push Oskar to definitively abandon childhood, and Elvis, to fall the mask of his ambition and his madness.

Wildcats

2017

Brownian Movement poster
5.7

A psychiatrist's adulterous past continues to haunt her and her husband after they move to India.

Brownian Movement

2010

7 Minutes poster
7.0

Women in a failing silk factory, fight to find a way to keep their jobs.

7 Minutes

2016

Last Dance poster
5.9

Germain, an introspective retiree, abruptly becomes a widower at 75. He barely has the time to realize what has happened to him before his family forces their way into his daily life: non-stop phone calls and visits, meals and activities organized in advance – all meant to make his life as regular as clockwork. But Germain’s mind is elsewhere. Honoring a promise he made to his dear departed wife, he suddenly finds himself at the heart of a contemporary dance company’s newest work.

Last Dance

2023

Electric Fields poster
NR

People go through life with forgotten dreams. They bravely contend another day when something goes off the rails. A man disappears into the woods. A season is lost. Lovers overcome time. Hardly noticeably, the rules of the world shift. And suddenly new paths open up in people's minds.

Electric Fields

2024

The Investigation poster
6.7

Peter Weiss’ monumental 1965 stage play, among the greatest artworks on the Holocaust, condenses the testimonies of witnesses and the accused during the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963-1965. This ultra-faithful film adaptation builds, across four hours, in its intensity and graphically described detail.

The Investigation

2024

Nebenwirkungen poster
5.0

Dr. Claudia Keller works in the research department of the global chemical company Beyler. The company has pinned all its hopes on the development of a revolutionary lifestyle drug called Defaminol. The slimming pill promises consumers easy weight loss. Shortly before the launch of the new miracle pill, Claudia begins to have doubts about possible side effects. She tries to convince management to hold back the drug, but no one listens to her. A nightmare of lies and loss of trust unfolds, and Claudia Keller must decide how far she is willing to go.

Nebenwirkungen

2007

Small Fish poster
6.0

Three respectable citizens of a Swiss winter sports resort find themselves in financial trouble due to a lack of snow. When Paul, René, and Werner find the plan for the perfect bank robbery at the home of their deceased curling friend Heinz, they are willing to take the risk after some initial hesitation. Preparations are in full swing. They didn't expect their love lives to be completely turned upside down in the process. Finally, the three men manage to break into the bank... The surprise is great when the vault door opens!

Small Fish

2007

Exit Oerlikon poster
8.0

When Hans looks back, he must say: That was a good life! He saw the world, loved his wife Martha and yes, two, three things went wrong. But that doesn't need to be talked about. And now? Two years ago Martha died, Hans can barely manage his daily routine anymore, and after a visit to the vet his beloved dog Miller doesn't return home. Hans is tired. Basically he can't be bothered anymore. He wants to die. But one doesn't talk about this. At best maybe with Willi, his friend. He trusts in him, he considers him as his ally, who should help him implement his plan...

Exit Oerlikon

2015

Transamazonia poster
6.2

Rebecca, the daughter of missionary Lawrence Byrne, was declared a “miracle” after she survived a plane crash as a child, deep in the Amazon Forest. Years later, Rebecca, who became a famous healer in the region, and her father find themselves embroiled in an escalating conflict when illegal loggers invade the land belonging to the indigenous people they are evangelizing.

Transamazonia

2025

A Friend of Mine poster
6.7

An introverted insurance executive at a car rental service is annoyed by his hyperactive, garrulous coworker, but the two end up becoming friends.

A Friend of Mine

2006

The Girl and the Spider poster
6.0

Lisa is moving. Upheaval all around: Her mother flirts with a handyman. An eccentric woman seems to be preparing for a glamorous event, a family next door returns from vacation, and a girl documents the adventurous day. As boxes are transported, walls painted white, and furniture is assembled, underlying problems in need of fixing are revealed, a to-do list expands, and desires and needs flair up.

The Girl and the Spider

2021

Futuro Beach poster
6.5

Donato fails in his attempt to save a drowning man, and meets one of the man's friends. He decides to start his life over, but pieces of his past keep coming after him.

Futuro Beach

2014

Behind the camera