August Zirner Explained
August Zirner (born 7 January 1956) is an American-Austrian actor, who starred in over 60 film productions. He is one of the most popular actors in Germany.[1]
Biography
Zirner was born as son of Austrian Jewish immigrants in the United States in Urbana, Illinois. His father had fled from the Nazis.[2] In 1976 he studied drama at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna before he made his debut as an actor at the Volkstheater in Vienna. After that he was engaged in Hanover, Wiesbaden and at the Munich Kammerspiele. His breakthrough into film was in The Promise in 1994.[1]
He has appeared in numerous films and television films, e. g. in (1990) by, Voyager (1991) by Volker Schlöndorff,[3] Talk of the Town (1995) by Rainer Kaufmann, (1997) by Margarethe von Trotta, The Pharmacist (1997) by Rainer Kaufmann and The Counterfeiters by Stefan Ruzowitzky, which was awarded with the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2008. For the film Rage, he got the 2006 Grimme-Preis.[4]
In 2009 Zirner played the transverse flute together with the Spardosen-Trio and the Theatre Program Diagnose: Jazz. In May 2011 Zirner acts in Blind Date, a play based on a film by Theo van Gogh at the Schauspielhaus Graz, a production of Bernadette Sonnenbichler.
Zirner is married to actress Katalin Zsigmondy and one of his four children is the actor Johannes Zirner.[5] Although he has lived in Europe since 1973, August Zirner has retained his U.S. citizenship.[1] [5]
Commitment
August Zirner supports the Austrian Service Abroad as an advisor for the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service.
Awards
2006 - "Special Recognition" by the German Academy of Performing Arts on the Film Festival Baden-Baden for the production team of Wut.
Selected filmography
- 1984: (directed by) .... Wolfgang
- 1986: .... Paul
- 1988: .... Luci's Husband
- 1989: .... Lothar Fuchs
- 1990: .... Yobo
- 1991: (TV Movie, directed by) .... Frank Götz
- 1991: Voyager .... Joachim Hencke
- 1991: Forever Young (TV Movie) .... Tomy
- 1994: Du bringst mich noch um (directed by Wolfram Paulus) .... Simon Halm
- 1995: The Promise[6] .... Konrad
- 1995: Talk of the Town .... Erik Kirsch
- 1996: Hannah (directed by Reinhard Schwabenitzky) .... Wolfgang Heck
- 1997: Der rote Schakal (TV Movie) .... Werner Leiser
- 1997: Der Wald (TV Movie, based on a novel by) .... Karl Fürst
- 1997: The Pharmacist .... Pawel Siebert
- 1997: (TV Movie, directed by Margarethe von Trotta) .... Michael
- 1998: Suzie Washington (directed by) .... Herbert Korn
- 1999: Annaluise & Anton .... Richard Pogge
- 2000: Kissing My Sister .... Jan Lomberg
- 2001: Mostly Martha[7] .... Martha's Therapist
- 2001: Taking Sides (directed by István Szabó) .... Captain Ed Martin
- 2001: .... Herr Oberstein
- 2002: Amen. (directed by Costa-Gavras) .... Von Weizsäcker
- 2002: Joe and Max (TV Movie) .... David Lewin
- 2002: Gebürtig .... Danny Demant
- 2002: (TV Movie, directed by Gernot Roll) .... König Friedrich II.
- 2003: (TV Movie) .... Dr. Günther Erhardt
- 2004: (TV Mini-Series, directed by Rainer Kaufmann) .... Samuel Goldfisch
- 2004: Sergeant Pepper .... Dr. Theobald
- 2005: Speer und Er (TV Mini-Series) .... Dr. Gilbert
- 2005: Liebe nach dem Tod (TV Movie) .... Paul Markwart
- 2005: A Sound of Thunder .... Clay Derris
- 2005: Tara Road .... Greg Vine
- 2005: Der Todestunnel (TV Movie) .... Manfred Grabowski
- 2005: Mutig in die neuen Zeiten (TV Movie, directed by Harald Sicheritz) .... Paul Berkowitz
- 2006: Helen, Ted und Fred (TV Movie, directed by Sherry Hormann) .... Peter Kowalski
- 2006: Rage (TV Movie) .... Simon Laub
- 2007: The Counterfeiters .... Dr. Klinger
- 2007: Herr Bello .... Herr Sternheim / Traugott Sternheim
- 2007: Meine böse Freundin (TV Movie) .... Robert Mahrtaler
- 2007: (TV Movie) .... Dr. Gerd Naumann
- 2008: .... Richard Harms
- 2008: Ein starker Abgang (TV Movie) .... Dr. Kübler
- 2009: [2] (TV Movie) .... Dr. Borchert
- 2009: (TV Movie) .... Dr. Martin Langhammer
- 2009: (TV Movie) .... Ludwig von Arnstetten
- 2009: Berlin 36 .... Edwin Bergmann
- 2009: Ein Dorf sieht Mord (TV Movie) .... Martin Selig
- 2009: (TV Movie) .... Ludwig Norderstedt
- 2009: Meine Familie bringt mich um (TV Movie) .... Peter
- 2010: Klimawechsel (TV Series) .... Dr. Dieter Dumont
- 2010: The Last 30 Years (TV Movie) .... Oskar Landrock
- 2010: (TV Movie) .... Ulf Kamprath
- 2011: Der Kardinal (TV Movie) .... Franz König
- 2012: Sams im Glück .... Herr Oberstein
- 2012: (TV Movie) .... Dr. Martin Langhammer
- 2012: (TV Movie) .... August Staudenmeyer
- 2012: .... Lenzi Weiss
- 2013: .... Meier
- 2014: (TV Movie) .... Alexander Halbach
- 2014: (TV Movie) .... Philipp Immerwahr
- 2014: Coming In .... Salvatore
- 2015: .... Georg
- 2015: (TV Movie) .... Andreas Niethammer
- 2015: Colonia Dignidad .... German Ambassador
- 2017: Euphoria .... Frank
- 2018: Wackersdorf .... Innenminister
- 2018: .... Maximilian
- 2018: Das Wunder von Wörgl .... Direktor Nationalbank
- 2018: (TV Movie) .... Wilhelm Nolting-Hauff
- 2019: Das Ende der Wahrheit .... Dr. Grünhagen
- 2022: The Silent Forest .... Gustav Dallmann
Notes and References
- Web site: Interview mit August Zirner: "Eigentlich bin ich ein Komiker". 4 August 2008. stern.de. 17 September 2014.
- Web site: August Zirner im Interview : August Zirner wollte mit Senta Berger drehen - News - moviepilot.de. moviepilot.de. 17 September 2014.
- News: Movie Review - Voyager - Review/Film; A Variation on the Oedipus Theme - NYTimes.com. The New York Times . 31 January 1992 . 17 September 2014 . Canby . Vincent .
- Web site: Fünf Adolf-Grimme-Preise für Colonia Media-Produktion "Wut". 17 September 2014.
- Web site: Alles zum Thema: August Zirner - GQ. GQ. GQ. 17 September 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20111001171422/http://www.gq-magazin.de/star-portraits/august-zirner/0/1738.html. 1 October 2011. dead.
- http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/entertainment/1995/09/08/1995-09-08_broken__promise___berlin_wal.html{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- News: Movie Review - Mostly Martha - FILM REVIEW; A Single-Minded Cook Who Wakes Up to Life - NYTimes.com. The New York Times . 16 August 2002 . 17 September 2014 . Mitchell . Elvis .