
Helena Zengel is a German actress. She is best known for her roles in the films System Crasher (2019) and News of the World (2020).
After System Crasher won a number of international awards, Zengel was cast by Universal Pictures to play a leading role in the American Western film News of the World directed by the British film director Paul Greengrass, which was her first international film. In this adaptation of the 2016 novel of the same name by Canadian-American writer Paulette Jiles, which starred Tom Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kidd, Zengel stars as a 10-year-old German orphan named Johanna Leonberger who was raised by the Kiowa; most of her performance is in the Kiowa language. For her performance, Zengel received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Zengel also dubbed herself in the Italian, German, French and Spanish versions; the dubbing is limited to the lines she spoke in English.

The Legend of Ochi
2025 · as Yuri

News of the World
2020 · as Johanna Leonberger

System Crasher
2019 · as Benni

Transamazonia
2025 · as Rebecca Byrne

Dark Blue Girl
2017 · as Luca

Der gute Bulle
2017 · as Fabienne

A Christmas Number One
2021 · as Nina Cutter

Exploding Ducks

Looping
2016 · as Lilly

Bloody Tennis
2026 · as Heidi

Baby Bitchka
2020 · as spielendes Mädchen

Sommermärchen
2017 · as Lilly Weyer

Route B96
2016 · as Karlotta