Diane Kruger was first seen in the 2001 short film ‘Point de lendemain’ directed by Alexandre Barfety. In 2002, she made her big-screen debut in the action thriller film ‘The Piano Player’ directed by Jean-Pierre Roux. The film holds a 4.3 out of 10 rating on IMDb. The following year, she starred as ‘Julie Wood’ in the French film ‘Michel Vaillant’ directed by Louis-Pascal Couvelaire. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. In 2004, she portrayed ‘Helen’ in the Wolfgang Petersen-directed American epic historical war film ‘Troy.’ The film opened to a mixed critical reception but managed to gross over $497.4 million on a budget of $175–185 million. That same year, she also played the role of ‘Abigail Chase’ in the American action-adventure film ‘National Treasure’ directed by Jon Turteltaub. The film, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, managed to gross over $347.5 million on a budget of $100 million. Kruger was next seen in films like ‘Joyeux Noël’ (2005), ‘Les Brigades du Tigre’ (2006), ‘Copying Beethoven’ (2006), ‘Goodbye Bafana’ (2007), ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’ (2007), and ‘Anything for Her’ (2008). She starred as ‘Bridget von Hammersmark’ in the 2009 war film ‘Inglourious Basterds’ directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film was praised by critics and performed well at the box office, grossing over $321.5 million on a budget of $70 million.
Kruger went on to star in films such as ‘Mr. Nobody’ (2009), ‘Inhale’ (2010), ‘Unknown’ (2011), ‘Forces spéciales’ (2011), ‘Farewell, My Queen’ (2012), ‘Un plan parfait’ (2012), ‘The Host’ (2013), ‘Me, Myself and Mum’ (2013), and ‘The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden’ (2013). In 2013, she joined the main cast of the American crime drama television series ‘The Bridge’ as ‘Detective Sonya Cross.’ The series ran for 2 seasons and aired its final episode in 2014. She next starred in films like ‘The Better Angels’ (2014), ‘Fathers and Daughters’ (2015), ‘The Infiltrator’ (2016), ‘In the Fade’ (2017), ‘All That Divides Us’ (2017), ‘JT LeRoy’ (2018), ‘Welcome to Marwen’ (2018), ‘The Operative’ (2019), ‘QT8: The First Eight’ (2019), ‘The 355’ (2022), and ‘Out of the Blue’ (2022). Kruger was last seen in the 2022 neo-noir thriller film ‘Marlowe’ directed by Neil Jordan. The film had its premiere at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.