# Dominique Devenport
**Dominique Devenport** (born 1996) is a Swiss-American actress known for playing the title role of [Empress Elisabeth of Austria](https://www.edgepedia.org/empress-elisabeth-of-austria)-Hungary in the RTL+ series *Sisi* (2021–2024) and the lead role of nurse Johanna Gabathuler in the historical spy thriller *Davos 1917* (2022–2023).[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1996, Lucerne, Switzerland, to a father from Wisconsin, USA and a Swiss mother[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19) |
| Nationality | Swiss and American[2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) |
| Training | Schauspielfabrik Berlin intensive course 2016–17; Otto Falckenberg School, Munich, 2017–21[2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) |
| Breakthrough role | Sisi (Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary) in the RTL+ series *Sisi*, premiered at the Canneseries Festival in 2021, four seasons through 2024[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19) |
| Awards | Jupiter Award Best Actress TV & Streaming National (2022, *Sisi*); Prix Walo and Prix Swissperform Best Actress Leading Role (2024, *Davos 1917*); Deutscher Fernsehpreis Best Actress nomination (2023)[3](https://www.crew-united.com/en/Dominique-Devenport_297719.html) • [2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) |
| Theatre | Ensemble member at the Volkstheater Rostock from the beginning of the 2021–22 season[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19) |
| Languages | German and English as mother tongues, good French, native Swiss German dialect[2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) |
## Early life and training
Devenport was born in 1996 in Lucerne, Switzerland, to a father from Wisconsin, USA, and a Swiss mother, and grew up in Lucerne.[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19) • [4](https://m.cinemagia.ro/actori/dominique-devenport-478106/biografie/) Her first acting experience came in school theater.[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19)
**Rejections before drama school.** Before beginning her formal acting studies in 2017, she was rejected by a total of 12 drama schools, as she recounted on the RTL program *Punkt 8*. She kept applying until she received a place at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich, where she studied from 2017 to 2021; before that she completed an intensive course at the Schauspielfabrik in Berlin in 2016–17.[5](https://www.rtl.de/sendungen/sisi/sisi-star-dominique-devenport-vor-der-serie-wurde-sie-von-12-schauspielschulen-abgelehnt-id1970132.html) • [1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19)
## Early screen work
As a teenager she played the farmer's daughter Toni in the Swiss television film *Nebelgrind* (2012) by Barbara Kulcsar, a drama about a farming family confronting Alzheimer's disease.[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19) • [4](https://m.cinemagia.ro/actori/dominique-devenport-478106/biografie/) In 2013 she appeared as Natalie in Bille August's feature film *[Night Train to Lisbon](https://www.edgepedia.org/night-train-to-lisbon-film)*, alongside [Jeremy Irons](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeremy-irons).[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19)
## Sisi
Devenport's breakthrough came with the RTL+ series *Sisi*, which premiered at the Canneseries Festival in 2021. She took the title role of Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary opposite Jannik Schümann as Emperor Franz Joseph, and played the role across four seasons, with the fourth and final season streaming from 1 December 2024.[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19) • [5](https://www.rtl.de/sendungen/sisi/sisi-star-dominique-devenport-vor-der-serie-wurde-sie-von-12-schauspielschulen-abgelehnt-id1970132.html) She was proposed for the part through a friend, then won the casting with application videos and auditions at age 25; it was her first major role.[5](https://www.rtl.de/sendungen/sisi/sisi-star-dominique-devenport-vor-der-serie-wurde-sie-von-12-schauspielschulen-abgelehnt-id1970132.html)
The role brought her the 2022 Jupiter Award for Best Actress, TV & Streaming, national category, a 2022 Romy nomination in the Discovery female category, and a nomination for the 2023 German Television Award (Deutscher Fernsehpreis) for Best Actress for season 2.[3](https://www.crew-united.com/en/Dominique-Devenport_297719.html) • [6](https://www.deutscher-fernsehpreis.de/verleihung/nominierungsdetails/details-2023/2023-beste-schauspielerin-dominique-devenport/) The German Television Award's citation describes her Sisi as a graceful, sensitive, self-confident and clever young woman, physically more challenged in the episodes set increasingly outside the court.[6](https://www.deutscher-fernsehpreis.de/verleihung/nominierungsdetails/details-2023/2023-beste-schauspielerin-dominique-devenport/) Preparation for the role included riding lessons, and she has described the corsets and hairstyles as painful and heavy.[7](https://www.0381-magazin.de/magazin_dev.php/rostock/magazin/show/id/4923)
## Davos 1917 and later work
In the SRF and ARD series *Davos 1917*, a historical spy thriller inspired by true events and set in 1917, Devenport played the lead role of Johanna Gabathuler, a Red Cross nurse who becomes an undercover agent, alongside [David Kross](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-kross) and Jeanette Hain.[8](https://www.srf.ch/kultur/film-serien/srf-serie-davos-1917-dominique-devenport-als-krankenschwester-das-ist-meine-rolle-1) • [9](https://mediasetinfinity.mediaset.it/news/mediasetinfinity/davos/dominique-devenport-chi-e-davos-sissi-attrice_SE000000002281_teoan2836fenhPXz59pbRz) The series had its world premiere at the 2023 Zurich Film Festival and became available in the ARD Mediathek on 20 December 2023.[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19) • [10](https://www.ksta.de/kultur-medien/davos-1917-schauspielerin-dominique-devenport-im-interview-691741) For the role she won the Prix Walo and the Prix Swissperform for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2024.[2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) Filming posed physical demands: a medical adviser coached the operating-room scenes, and temperatures on set sometimes fell to at least −20 degrees.[7](https://www.0381-magazin.de/magazin_dev.php/rostock/magazin/show/id/4923)
Her later credits include the feature film *Love Roulette* (2025) by Chris Niemeyer, the docu-fiction *Wer weiß schon, was ein Leben ist* (2025), and the 2026 productions *Heidi* (RTL/SRF, Gaumont), *Tatort – Schwere See* (NDR), and the ZDF television film *Zwei an Weihnachten*.[2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) • [11](https://www.filmmakers.eu/en/actors/dominique-devenport)
## Theatre
At the beginning of the 2021–22 season Devenport became an ensemble member of the Volkstheater Rostock, where she appeared in *Rapunzel* (2021, directed by Peter Dehler).[1](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19) • [2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) During her student years she performed in *Rein Gold. Ein Bühnenessay* at the Münchner Kammerspiele (2020, directed by Christiane Pohle) and in *November 18 (Revolution & Wahnsinn)* (2018).[2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) In interviews she has described stage and screen acting as fundamentally different crafts: theater demands long rehearsal periods and large, physical, sustained arcs of performance, while film requires smaller, more naturalistic playing and the ability to keep track of a story shot out of sequence.[7](https://www.0381-magazin.de/magazin_dev.php/rostock/magazin/show/id/4923)
## Personal profile
Devenport is bilingual in German and English, speaks good French, and names [Swiss German](https://www.edgepedia.org/swiss-german) as her native dialect; she has stated that a personal goal is to speak all four national languages of Switzerland fluently.[2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) • [7](https://www.0381-magazin.de/magazin_dev.php/rostock/magazin/show/id/4923) Her listed skills include ballet, [Argentine tango](https://www.edgepedia.org/argentine-tango), standard dance, stage vocals, aikido, sport fencing, acrobatics, swimming, and yoga; she is 172 cm tall.[2](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport) She has expressed interest in working internationally in English and in cinema, and in playing a strong character role in the manner of a supporting part such as Professor Snape rather than another audience-identification lead.[7](https://www.0381-magazin.de/magazin_dev.php/rostock/magazin/show/id/4923) • [10](https://www.ksta.de/kultur-medien/davos-1917-schauspielerin-dominique-devenport-im-interview-691741)
## References
1. [Dominique Devenport, Swiss Films](https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/dominique-devenport/8aaba8923275402889696e59e29fba19)
2. [Dominique Devenport, Above the Line agency profile](https://www.abovetheline.de/en/actors/dominique-devenport)
3. [Dominique Devenport, Crew United](https://www.crew-united.com/en/Dominique-Devenport_297719.html)
4. [Biografie Dominique Devenport, CineMagia.ro](https://m.cinemagia.ro/actori/dominique-devenport-478106/biografie/)
5. [„Sisi"-Star Dominique Devenport: Vor der Serie wurde sie von 12 Schauspielschulen abgelehnt, RTL.de](https://www.rtl.de/sendungen/sisi/sisi-star-dominique-devenport-vor-der-serie-wurde-sie-von-12-schauspielschulen-abgelehnt-id1970132.html)
6. [2023 Beste Schauspielerin – Dominique Devenport, Deutscher Fernsehpreis](https://www.deutscher-fernsehpreis.de/verleihung/nominierungsdetails/details-2023/2023-beste-schauspielerin-dominique-devenport/)
7. [Sisi-Schauspielerin Dominique Devenport, 0381-Magazin](https://www.0381-magazin.de/magazin_dev.php/rostock/magazin/show/id/4923)
8. [SRF-Serie «Davos 1917» – Dominique Devenport als Krankenschwester, SRF](https://www.srf.ch/kultur/film-serien/srf-serie-davos-1917-dominique-devenport-als-krankenschwester-das-ist-meine-rolle-1)
9. [Chi è Dominique Devenport, attrice protagonista di Davos e Sissi, Mediaset Infinity](https://mediasetinfinity.mediaset.it/news/mediasetinfinity/davos/dominique-devenport-chi-e-davos-sissi-attrice_SE000000002281_teoan2836fenhPXz59pbRz)
10. [„Davos 1917": Schauspielerin Dominique Devenport im Interview, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger](https://www.ksta.de/kultur-medien/davos-1917-schauspielerin-dominique-devenport-im-interview-691741)
11. [Dominique Devenport, Filmmakers Europe](https://www.filmmakers.eu/en/actors/dominique-devenport)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 2000s onward › Surnames D to Di*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license