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Denise M'Baye was born in 1974 in Dannenberg in the Wendland region to a German mother and a Senegalese father. When she was three years old, her mother moved with her to Hanover. She discovered her acting talent as a student through a youth project, which led to theater performances. After graduating from high school in 1994, she joined the ensemble of Theater Hannover, where she remained until 2009. During this time, M'Baye also toured with the Hanoverian band "Jazzkantine", releasing two solo albums in 2001 and 2003, and continued touring with various musicians from 2003 onward.
In 2009, Denise M'Baye transitioned to television when a talent agency placed her in the popular telenovela "Rote Rosen", where she portrayed the ex-lover of the main character Kodjo from Ghana in 31 episodes. Following this, she secured a leading role in the monastery series "Um Himmels Willen", playing a novice who later becomes a nun over eleven seasons, joining the order to escape her family's influence. Alongside this long-term role, M'Baye occasionally took on guest roles in other series, such as a Nigerian woman threatened with deportation in "Notruf Hafenkante" (episode: "Abgeschoben," 2015), a doctor in "Das Traumschiff - Tansania" (2016), and a sorceress in the fairy tale film "Das Wasser des Lebens" (2017).
When "Um Himmels Willen" was announced to be ending in late 2020, Denise M'Baye turned to other projects. She made her film debut with a key role as a wealthy main character in the award-winning science fiction film "The Ordinaries" (2022), and played the lawyer of a rape victim in Bettina Oberli's miniseries "37 Sekunden" (2023). She also had a significant role in the miniseries "Was wir fürchten" (2023), as a psychotherapist who appears to be the only one able to help a traumatized student plagued by dark visions. Additionally, M'Baye appeared in episodes of the TV series "Ein Krimi aus Passau" (2022), "Die Rosenheim-Cops" (2022), and "In aller Freundschaft – Die jungen Ärzte" (2023).
In early 2024, she was seen in the large ensemble of the Netflix romantic comedy "Die Liebeskümmerer" ("The Heartbreak Agency"), which was moderately received. In spring 2024, she filmed for Simon Verhoeven's social satire "Alter weißer Mann," set to release in autumn 2024.
Denise M'Baye lives in Hanover.