Thomas Kretschmann

Thomas Kretschmann — Biography

Thomas Kretschmann was born on 8 September 1962 in Dessau, East Germany, and trained as a competitive swimmer before turning to acting. At 19 he fled to West Germany through Hungary, Yugoslavia and Austria, losing part of a finger along the way (later surgically reattached) and arriving with nothing but his passport and $100. After moving into theatre in Berlin, he won the 1991 Max Ophüls award for best young actor for Der Mitwisser, and his international profile grew through Stalingrad (1993) and The Stendhal Syndrome.

Kretschmann's turn as Captain Wilm Hosenfeld in Roman Polanski's The Pianist proved a turning point, leading to roles in Downfall, King Kong and Valkyrie, alongside Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in Wanted, and as King Leopold I in the Oscar-winning The Young Victoria. His performance in Rohtenburg (Grimm Love Story) won him Best Actor at the Sitges and Bucheon film festivals. He joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron, voiced Professor Z in Cars 2, and spent a period as the face of a Hugo Boss fragrance.