August Zirner


August Zirner is an American-Austrian actor, who starred in over 60 film productions. He is one of the most popular actors in Germany.

Biography

Zirner was born as son of Austrian Jewish immigrants in the United States in Urbana, Illinois. His father had fled from the Nazis. 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.
He has appeared in numerous films and television films, e. g. in ' by, Voyager by Volker Schlöndorff, Talk of the Town by Rainer Kaufmann, ' by Margarethe von Trotta, The Pharmacist 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.
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. Although he has lived in Europe since 1973, August Zirner has retained his U.S. citizenship.

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: ' .... Wolfgang
  • 1986: '.... Paul
  • 1988: '.... Luci's Husband
  • 1989: '.... Lothar Fuchs
  • 1990: '.... Yobo
  • 1991: ' .... Frank Götz
  • 1991: Voyager.... Joachim Hencke
  • 1991: Forever Young .... Tomy
  • 1994: Du bringst mich noch um .... Simon Halm
  • 1995: The Promise.... Konrad
  • 1995: Talk of the Town.... Erik Kirsch
  • 1996: Hannah .... Wolfgang Heck
  • 1997: Der rote Schakal .... Werner Leiser
  • 1997: Der Wald .... Karl Fürst
  • 1997: The Pharmacist.... Pawel Siebert
  • 1997: ' .... Michael
  • 1998: Suzie Washington .... Herbert Korn
  • 1999: Annaluise & Anton.... Richard Pogge
  • 2000: Kissing My Sister.... Jan Lomberg
  • 2001: Mostly Martha.... Martha's Therapist
  • 2001: Taking Sides .... Captain Ed Martin
  • 2001: '.... Herr Oberstein
  • 2002: Amen. .... Von Weizsäcker
  • 2002: Joe and Max .... David Lewin
  • 2002: Gebürtig.... Danny Demant
  • 2002: ' .... König Friedrich II.
  • 2003: ' .... Dr. Günther Erhardt
  • 2004: ' .... Samuel Goldfisch
  • 2004: Sergeant Pepper.... Dr. Theobald
  • 2005: Speer und Er .... Dr. Gilbert
  • 2005: Liebe nach dem Tod .... Paul Markwart
  • 2005: A Sound of Thunder.... Clay Derris
  • 2005: Tara Road.... Greg Vine
  • 2005: Der Todestunnel .... Manfred Grabowski
  • 2005: Mutig in die neuen Zeiten .... Paul Berkowitz
  • 2006: Helen, Ted und Fred .... Peter Kowalski
  • 2006: Rage .... Simon Laub
  • 2007: The Counterfeiters.... Dr. Klinger
  • 2007: Herr Bello.... Herr Sternheim / Traugott Sternheim
  • 2007: Meine böse Freundin .... Robert Mahrtaler
  • 2007: ' .... Dr. Gerd Naumann
  • 2008: '.... Richard Harms
  • 2008: Ein starker Abgang .... Dr. Kübler
  • 2009: ' .... Dr. Borchert
  • 2009: ' .... Dr. Martin Langhammer
  • 2009: ' .... Ludwig von Arnstetten
  • 2009: Berlin 36.... Edwin Bergmann
  • 2009: Ein Dorf sieht Mord .... Martin Selig
  • 2009: ' .... Ludwig Norderstedt
  • 2009: Meine Familie bringt mich um .... Peter
  • 2010: Klimawechsel .... Dr. Dieter Dumont
  • 2010: The Last 30 Years .... Oskar Landrock
  • 2010: ' .... Ulf Kamprath
  • 2011: Der Kardinal .... Franz König
  • 2012: Sams im Glück.... Herr Oberstein
  • 2012: ' .... Dr. Martin Langhammer
  • 2012: ' .... August Staudenmeyer
  • 2012: '.... Lenzi Weiss
  • 2013: '.... Meier
  • 2014: ' .... Alexander Halbach
  • 2014: ' .... Philipp Immerwahr
  • 2014: Coming In.... Salvatore
  • 2015: '.... Georg
  • 2015: ' .... Andreas Niethammer
  • 2015: Colonia Dignidad.... German Ambassador
  • 2017: Euphoria.... Frank
  • 2018: Wackersdorf.... Innenminister
  • 2018: '.... Maximilian
  • 2018: '.... Direktor Nationalbank
  • 2018: .... Wilhelm Nolting-Hauff
  • 2019: Das Ende der Wahrheit.... Dr. Grünhagen
  • 2022: The Silent Forest.... Gustav Dallmann