Lukas Miko


Lukas Miko is an Austrian actor, screenwriter and film director.

Life and career

Miko completed his Matura in Vienna in 1989 and subsequently joined the ensemble of George Tabori’s theatre group Der Kreis. From 1990 to 1992 he studied at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, followed by studies at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1992 to 1993. After returning to Austria he was cast by Michael Haneke in the leading role of his film 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance, portraying Max, a sports student who commits a seemingly motiveless shooting spree shortly before Christmas. For his performance he was nominated as Best Young European Actor at the French film festival "Stars de Demain" and received a special mention by the jury.
From 1994 to 1999 he was a company member of the Residenztheater in Munich, and from 1999 to 2002 was part of the ensemble of the Burgtheater in Vienna. He later appeared as a guest actor at Theater Basel, Stadttheater Klagenfurt and in independent productions, including Paulus Manker’s theatre installation ALMA – A Show Biz ans Ende, performing the role of Gustav Mahler.
In cinema he has portrayed a wide range of characters, including Auschwitz survivor Hermann Langbein in Austria's 2016 Oscar submission Labyrinth of Lies directed by Giulio Ricciarelli; a far-right lawyer in Night of a 1000 Hours by Virgil Widrich; the strict father of blind pianist Maria Theresia Paradis in Mademoiselle Paradis by Barbara Albert; and a heroin-addicted stepfather in the award-winning film The [Best of All Worlds (film)|The Best of All Worlds] by Adrian Goiginger. For the latter he won the Austrian Film Award in 2018 as Best Supporting Actor.
On television he gained wide attention playing an intriguing, manipulative antagonist in the mini-series Altes Geld directed by David Schalko. He later appeared as cult leader Brunner in the Sky series Pagan Peak and as psychiatrist Max de Crinis in season two of Charité. In Markus Schleinzer’s feature film Angelo he portrayed Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, and in 2020 he played war criminal Georg von Lichtenberg in the Netflix series Freud directed by Marvin Kren.
In 2005 Miko wrote his first screenplay and in 2006 directed the 30-minute short film Das gefrorene Meer. The film received multiple awards, including the German Short Film Award in Gold in 2007.
Miko is one of the initiators of #KlappeAuf, an Austrian film industry initiative against hate speech and promoting solidarity. At the Austrian Film Award ceremony in 2018 he delivered a widely noticed speech on behalf of the movement.
At the 2021 Diagonale film festival he received the acting award for his role as Gerald in Me, We by David Clay Diaz.
In 2024 he received the Diagonale Grand Acting Award for "Outstanding Contribution to Austrian Film Culture".

Theatre

Residenztheater Munich
Burgtheater Vienna
Theater Basel
Stadttheater Klagenfurt
Former Telegraph Office Vienna
Selected acting roles
Feature films
Television films
Television series
Short films