Alexander Scheer


Alexander Scheer is a German actor and musician. He has won several national awards for his performances in film and theater, including one German Film Award for "Best Actor in a Leading Role" and one Bavarian Film Award for "Best Actor", both in the year 2019.

Biography

Scheer studied at in Berlin with main focus on music. In addition to the singing, he played piano and drums in different bands. He left school after the 11th grade and then took up various occupations. He also performed in commercials during this period and turned their own amateur films with his friends. The film series "American Showdown" by André Jagusch, when Scheer stood in front of the camera, became a small festival hit and was shown, for example, at the and at the . During a casting, he was discovered by the director Leander Haussmann, who cast him in his 1999 film Sonnenallee. After the shooting, Scheer and Haußmann followed to the Schauspiel Bochum theater. There he played among other things in various plays such as Much Ado About Nothing, Leonce and Lena, and The Tempest.
As a result, he worked with the directors like Christoph Marthaler, Frank Castorf, and, played in theaters such as "Berlin Alexanderplatz", "the idiot" at the Volksbühne Berlin, and "The Seagull" at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. For his acting performances, he was awarded the . For the personification of the English Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean in Frank Castorf's production of the same name in 2009, Scheer was voted Actor of the Year by the theater magazine Theater heute. In addition to his theater engagements, he was also in the national and international productions such as Viktor Vogel – Commercial Man, Eight Miles High, Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution, and Carlos which its full 5½-hour version was shown out of competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
To prepare for the portrayal of Keith Richards in the film Eight Miles High, Scheer founded the band The Rockboys which played concerts for one summer. In 2007 he joined Jan Opoczynski as guitarist in his band. In the following year, he became the front man of the Viennese band Gruppe Pegel. In 2009 he toured Europe as a percussionist with The Whitest Boy Alive. In 2012 he appeared as Mephistopheles in the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's tragedy play Faust, Part One.
Scheer played a total of 16 years under the direction of Frank Castorf at the Volksbühne Berlin. The decision of the secretary for cultural affairs of Berlin, Tim Renner, caused Castorf's contract as director not to be extended and Scheer was critical of it. He then asked Tim Renner not to enter the theater again, and when Scheer met Renner there in 2018 after a film screening, he poured a glass of beer over his head.
In the Andreas Dresen's 2018 biographical film Gundermann about the East German songwriter, rock musician, and skilled excavator operator Gerhard Gundermann, Scheer played the title role and sang all the songs himself. For this role, he was awarded German Film Award the most important cinema awards in Germany and the most highly endowed German cultural awards, for the Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2019.
In the television series , he embodied the British musician David Bowie.
Scheer was in a long-term relationship with the fashion designer.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1999SonnenalleeMicha Ehrenreich
2001Viktor Vogel – Commercial ManViktor Vogel
2001Getting My Brother LaidManu
2006LuluWalter SchwarzTV film
2006Burning HeartKurtTV film
2007Eight Miles HighKeith Richards
2008Meine fremde TochterMarkus BergkampTV film
2008'Tom
200912 Paces Without a HeadHerman Lange
2010'Bennett
2010CarlosJohannes WeinrichFilm and TV miniseries
2011'VincentTV film
2011'Niklas JulebukkChristmas film
2012'Jakob KronibusTV film
2013WestHans Pischke
2014'GKF-Manager
2015'Blixa Bargeld
2016'Rambo Weiler
2016'Friedrich Nietzsche
2016Goodbye BerlinJudge
2017'Klaus Ullmannfilm
2017The Young Karl MarxWilhelm Weitling
2017Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No TalesYoung Edward Teague
2018'Dieter Degowskifilm
2018GundermannGerhard Gundermann
2018'
2019The AftermathSiegfried Leitmann
2020Enfant TerribleAndy Warhol
2021Blood Red SkyEightball
2022Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. BushBernhard Docke
2022Christiaan BarnardTV film
2023Blood & GoldObersturmbannführer von Starnfeld
2025Köln 75Manfred Eicher
2025Leonora in the Morning LightMax Ernst

Television series

YearTitleRoleNotes
1999TatortMichael Grabowskiepisode '
2003–2005Berlin, BerlinLenny60 episodes
2004SK KölschBeckepisode Schmock
2005The Eagle: A Crime OdysseyBetjentenepisodes 9 and 10
2009'Wolf Broderepisode '
2012'Marvin Weberepisode '
2014Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die AutobahnpolizeiLeonid Tesslaseason 18, episode No. 261 Revolution
2014'Sirepisode Machtspiele
2014TatortDonnyepisode '
2015TatortMatthias Harriesepisode '
2015'Jörg Gessnerepisode '
2015'Kirill Korolyovepisode Das letzte Kapitel
2016'Marvin Weberepisode '
2016Morgen hör ich aufHauptkommissar Schnabelbach3 episodes
2020SløbornNikolai Wagner14 episodes
2020'Kater8 episodes
2021David Bowie2 episodes

Awards

  • 2006: Der Faust, the best performer of a drama performance
  • 2008: , originality and best actor
  • 2009:, honorary title by the German magazine Theater heute, for Kean
  • 2018: , best actor for his role in Gundermann
  • 2019: Bavarian Film Awards, best actor for Gundermann
  • 2019: Berliner Kunstpreis for performing arts
  • 2019: German Film Award – "Best Actor in a Leading Role" for ''Gundermann''