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Alice Gruia was born in 1983 in Ratingen and grew up in Bonn. After finishing school, she began her studies in philosophy, psychology, and sociology in Trier, where she also gained acting experience as the director of a student theater group. Following her studies, she spent a year in Rome as part of the European Voluntary Service.
Back in Germany, she trained as an actress at the Schauspielschule of Theater der Keller in Cologne-Deutz from 2006 to 2009. During this time, she played her first roles in short films. She also took acting courses at the William Esper Studio in New York City (2008) and in Sydney (2009).
It was in Sydney that Gruia directed her first film, the documentary "Rodicas" — a portrait of her grandmother and her grandmother's best friend, both named Rodica, both of Jewish-Romanian origin, who had lived in Sydney for many years and met each other there. The film premiered in 2012 at the Berlinale in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section.
In the following years, Gruia appeared primarily as an actress, among other roles as Fritz Lang's maid in Gordian Maugg's "Fritz Lang" (2016). From 2015 to 2017, she was seen in seven episodes of the TV series "Club der roten Bänder" ("The Red Band Society".) The ensemble received the German Actors' Award and the New Faces Award in 2016. Gruia also appeared in the feature film "Club der roten Bänder – Wie alles begann" ("Red Bracelets: The Beginning "/"The Red Band Society: The Beginning," 2019). For her own short film "Vergewaltigt wird hier keiner" ("Consenting Adults," 2017), she won the Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Girogirocorto Film Festival in Rome in 2018.
In 2021, Gruia appeared in several episodes of the series "Rentnercops." Between 2021 and 2023, she wrote, produced, and directed the television series "Lu von Loser," in which she also played the lead role of an eccentric musician and expectant mother. Further TV appearances followed in episodes of the comedy series "Doppelhaushälfte" (2024) and the crime series "WaPo Duisburg" (2024).
In January 2023, Gruia presented her first feature-length film as a director at the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival: "Seid einfach, wie ihr seid" ("Act Neutral"), a tragicomedy about a film student shooting her graduation project around the reunion of her estranged parents. The film's theatrical release, however, did not take place until fall 2025.