Thomas Kretschmann (born 8 September 1962) is a German actor who has also performed in Hollywood movies.

Biography

Early life

Kretschmann was born in Dessau, former East Germany. Before he became an actor, Kretschmann trained to become an Olympic swimmer. At the age of 19 he left East Germany and began a month-long trek to West Germany to escape the East German regime. During this trek he lost part of a finger, but it was surgically reattached. Kretschmann crossed four borders with nothing other than his passport and the equivalent of $100 in his possession.

Career

At the age of 25, he began acting, starring in numerous European films and television series. In 1991, Kretschmann was awarded the Wobbly Max Ophüls Prize for best young actor for his role in Der Mitwisser. He achieved international recognition for his role as a rapist/murderer in Dario Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome. Popular in his native country, Kretschmann did not achieve fame in Hollywood until his role as Capt. Wilm Hosenfeld in Roman Polanski's 2002 film The Pianist. Kretschmann has since portrayed several military officers of the Third Reich period. Kretschmann played SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, a member of Adolf Hitler's personal entourage, in Der Untergang (Downfall) in 2004. In 2008 he played Major Otto Ernst Remer in the historical thriller Valkyrie.

Perhaps alluding to his roles as a German in Nazi time, Kretschmann also played Timothy Cain in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, as a ruthless Umbrella Major. This character was also partly inspired by Kretschmann's character Max from the television series 24.

In the same year as Apocalypse, he appeared in the French film Immortal with Linda Hardy. The film was notable for its use of a digital backlot and interaction between Computer-generated characters and real actors.

In 2005, Kretschmann won a role in Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong, where he worked again with Adrien Brody, with whom he costarred in The Pianist.

The following year, Kretschmann began to win acclaim for his role in Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (Rohtenburg in Germany). A psychological thriller, the movie co-stars Keri Russell and was inspired by the Armin Meiwes cannibalism case. It was scheduled for a March 2006 release in Germany, but its showing is under injunction after Meiwes successfully sued to have it banned on grounds of infringement of his Persönlichkeitsrecht (personality rights). At the 2006 Festival de Cine de Sitges, Kretschmann shared the Best Actor award for his performance in this film with his co-star Thomas Huber. Kretschmann also shared Best Actor with Huber at the 2007 Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival.

Kretschmann is also currently the new face for the new scent by Hugo Boss. Kretschmann lives in Los Angeles. He's currently working in Budapest as the lead actor in a 1960 post-war drama.

Kretschmann has 3 children with his girlfriend, Lena: Nicolas, Stella and Sascha.

Filmography