Jeanne Goursaud was born on April 4, 1996, in Pinneberg, Germany. She is a German-French actress known for the Netflix series Barbarians.
Her career now spans German, French, and English-language productions.
Who is Jeanne Goursaud?
Jeanne Goursaud is a German-French actress best known internationally for playing Thusnelda in the Netflix historical drama Barbarians.
The series follows the Germanic tribes’ revolt against Roman occupation and became one of Netflix’s most-watched German productions after its October 2020 release.
She has since built a career across multiple countries and languages.
Goursaud has starred in the Netflix action thriller Exterritorial (2025), the France-set crime drama Pax Massilia, and the Franco-German miniseries Kabul.
She works comfortably in German, French, and English productions, a reflection of her bilingual upbringing.
Early Life of Jeanne Goursaud
Goursaud was born in the Pinneberg district north of Hamburg, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Her mother is German, and her father is French, and she grew up bilingual as a result.
She was raised in the town of Halstenbek.
As a child, she and her sister staged their own plays in the family’s yard, an early sign of her interest in performing. That interest led her to enroll in drama classes at the TASK acting school for children and teenagers in Cologne.
Goursaud began working professionally at a young age. In 2012, she modeled for the beauty brand Bebe Young Care and made her television debut with guest appearances on the German shows Die Pfefferkörner and Neues aus Büttenwarder.
She later spent time living in Paris to strengthen her French, a period that would soon shape the direction of her career.
Jeanne Goursaud Age
Jeanne Goursaud is 30 years old as of 2026, born on April 4, 1996. Her zodiac sign is Aries.
She started acting professionally at 16, and by her late twenties had already led an international Netflix series.
Jeanne Goursaud Ethnicity and Nationality
Jeanne Goursaud holds both German and French nationality. Her mother is German and her father is French, giving her a dual cultural background from birth.
She speaks German, French, and English fluently. That trilingual ability has opened doors to roles across three different national film industries, something relatively rare for an actress her age.
Jeanne Goursaud Height and Weight
Jeanne Goursaud’s exact height is around 5 feet 5 inches or 165 cm or 1.65 m, while her weight is around 55 kg or 121 lbs.
She has brown hair and brown eyes with a charming face and a cute smile.
Jeanne Goursaud Education
Goursaud trained at the TASK Schauspielschule für Kinder und Jugendliche, a drama school for children and young people based in Cologne. She enrolled there as a child, well before her television debut in 2012.
That early training gave her a foundation in stage and screen acting years before her breakout role.
She has also credited additional coaching in the Ivana Chubbuck acting technique, a method widely used by working film and television actors, as part of her later development.
Jeanne Goursaud Career
Breakthrough Role and Career Start
Goursaud’s screen career began with small television roles in 2012, including appearances on Die Pfefferkörner on KiKa. Her English-language debut came in 2015, when she played the recurring role of Emma in season two of the Australian series In Your Dreams.
She made her feature film debut the following year in Erwartungen. In 2017, she joined the RTL comedy-drama Der Lehrer as Bibi, a role she played for 56 episodes across three seasons through 2019.
That same year, she appeared in the parody film Bullyparade: The Movie alongside Michael Herbig, released to mark the franchise’s 20th anniversary.
While living in Paris, Goursaud was scouted for a role in Clint Eastwood’s 2018 film The 15:17 to Paris. She played Lea, a supporting part in the real-events drama about the 2015 Thalys train attack.
Notable Films and Projects
In 2020, Goursaud landed her breakout role as Thusnelda, a real historical Cheruscan noblewoman, in the Netflix series Barbarians. The show reached more than 37 million households worldwide within its first four weeks on the platform, according to figures reported by her talent agency.
She reprised the role for a second season in 2022.
Goursaud followed that with the lead role of Jazz in the Warner TV series Para – We Are King starting in 2021, and she played Jenny Krause in the Paramount+ thriller The Chemistry of Death, a 2023 adaptation of Simon Beckett’s novel. During this period she also starred as Alice Vidal in the French Netflix thriller Pax Massilia, for which she won a Thriller Award for Best Actress in 2024.
Recent Work
In 2025, Goursaud took the lead role of Sara Wulf, a former elite soldier searching for her missing son, in the Netflix action thriller Exterritorial. The film also stars Dougray Scott and premiered on the streaming platform that year.
She followed this with a role in the Franco-German miniseries Kabul, filmed in Athens alongside Eric Dane, and the Netflix drama Das Geschenk. Goursaud has also continued her role in Pax Massilia, which returned for a third season in 2026.
She is set to appear in the action thriller Heartless, directed by Camille Delamare and co-starring Colin Morgan, expected to release in 2026.
Jeanne Goursaud Filmography
Selected film and television credits include:
- Erwartungen (2016)
- Bullyparade: The Movie (2017)
- The 15:17 to Paris (2018)
- Der Lehrer (2017–2019)
- Wishlist (2017–2018)
- Barbarians (2020–2022)
- Para – We Are King (2021–present)
- The Chemistry of Death (2023)
- Pax Massilia (2022–present)
- Exterritorial (2025)
- Kabul (2024–2025)
- Das Geschenk (2025)
Jeanne Goursaud Awards and Recognition
Goursaud won a Thriller Award for Best Actress in 2024 for her role in Pax Massilia. Her work on Wishlist also formed part of a series that received a Grimme Award, a major German television honor.
Her breakout series, Barbarians, drew wide international viewership and helped establish her profile outside Germany.
Jeanne Goursaud Relationship Status
Jeanne Goursaud has not publicly confirmed a relationship or partner.
She has kept her personal life largely private throughout her career, and no spouse, partner, or engagement has been reliably reported.
Jeanne Goursaud Net Worth
Estimates of Jeanne Goursaud’s net worth vary across different reports, generally ranging from around $1 million to $3 million as of 2026.
No authoritative financial source, such as a major outlet or an official filing, has published a confirmed figure.
Her income is understood to come primarily from acting roles across German, French, and international productions, along with past modeling and brand work, including an early association with the cosmetics brand Bebe Young Care.
Jeanne Goursaud Social Media
Jeanne Goursaud is active on Instagram at @jeannegoursaud, where she shares updates on her projects, including Barbarians, Exterritorial, Pax Massilia, and Kabul. Her bio also references her support for the human rights organization Hawar.help.
She uses the platform mainly to promote her acting work rather than her personal life.
The Bottom Line
Jeanne Goursaud built her career from small German television roles into an international profile, anchored by her lead performance as Thusnelda in Netflix’s Barbarians. That role reached tens of millions of households within weeks of its 2020 release.
She grew up bilingual between German and French households, a background that later led her to work across three national film industries. Her Thriller Award win for Pax Massilia in 2024 reflects a career that has widened well beyond her original breakout role.
In 2026, she continues that momentum with a returning season of Pax Massilia and the upcoming release of Heartless alongside Colin Morgan. Her run of recent lead roles suggests her international profile is still growing.
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