August Zirner

American actor

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 Café Europa [de] (1990) by Franz Xaver Bogner [de], Voyager (1991) by Volker Schlöndorff,^[3] Talk of the Town (1995) by Rainer Kaufmann, Winterkind (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: Knock on the Wrong Door [de] (directed by Gabriela Zerhau [de]) .... Wolfgang
1986: Now or Never [de] .... Paul
1988: Felix [it] .... Luci's Husband
1989: Money [de] .... Lothar Fuchs
1990: Café Europa [de] .... Yobo
1991: No Mention of Violence [de] (TV Movie, directed by Theodor Kotulla [de]) .... 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 Werner Kopacka [de]) .... Karl Fürst
1997: The Pharmacist .... Pawel Siebert
1997: Winterkind (TV Movie, directed by Margarethe von Trotta) .... Michael
1998: Suzie Washington (directed by Florian Flicker [de]) .... 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: Das Sams [de] .... Herr Oberstein
2002: Amen. (directed by Costa-Gavras) .... Von Weizsäcker
2002: Joe and Max (TV Movie) .... David Lewin
2002: Gebürtig .... Danny Demant
2002: Trenck [de] (TV Movie, directed by Gernot Roll) .... König Friedrich II.
2003: Novaks Ultimatum [de] (TV Movie) .... Dr. Günther Erhardt
2004: Queen of Cherries [de] (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: Contergan [de] (TV Movie) .... Dr. Gerd Naumann
2008: Come In and Burn Out [de] .... Richard Harms
2008: Ein starker Abgang (TV Movie) .... Dr. Kübler
2009: Sleepless [de]^[2] (TV Movie) .... Dr. Borchert
2009: Thanksgiving [de] (TV Movie) .... Dr. Martin Langhammer
2009: Dr. Hope [fr] (TV Movie) .... Ludwig von Arnstetten
2009: Berlin 36 .... Edwin Bergmann
2009: Ein Dorf sieht Mord (TV Movie) .... Martin Selig
2009: Oh, What a Mess [de] (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: An Intern for Life [de] (TV Movie) .... Ulf Kamprath
2011: Der Kardinal (TV Movie) .... Franz König
2012: Sams im Glück .... Herr Oberstein
2012: Milk Money [de] (TV Movie) .... Dr. Martin Langhammer
2012: Homecoming [de] (TV Movie) .... August Staudenmeyer
2012: The Dead and the Living [de] .... Lenzi Weiss
2013: The Blind Spot [de] .... Meier
2014: High Tide Is Dead on Time [de] (TV Movie) .... Alexander Halbach
2014: Clara Immerwahr [de] (TV Movie) .... Philipp Immerwahr
2014: Coming In .... Salvatore
2015: The Misplaced World [de] .... Georg
2015: Master of Death [de] (TV Movie) .... Andreas Niethammer
2015: Colonia Dignidad .... German Ambassador
2017: Euphoria .... Frank
2018: Wackersdorf .... Innenminister
2018: What Doesn't Kill Us [de] .... Maximilian
2018: Das Wunder von Wörgl .... Direktor Nationalbank
2018: Die Affäre Borgward [de] (TV Movie) .... Wilhelm Nolting-Hauff
2019: Das Ende der Wahrheit .... Dr. Grünhagen
2022: The Silent Forest .... Gustav Dallmann

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to August Zirner.

^ ^a ^b ^c "Interview mit August Zirner: "Eigentlich bin ich ein Komiker"". stern.de. 4 August 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
^ ^a ^b "August Zirner im Interview : August Zirner wollte mit Senta Berger drehen - News - moviepilot.de". moviepilot.de. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
^ Canby, Vincent (31 January 1992). "Movie Review - Voyager - Review/Film; A Variation on the Oedipus Theme - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
^ "Fünf Adolf-Grimme-Preise für Colonia Media-Produktion "Wut"". Retrieved 17 September 2014.
^ ^a ^b GQ. "Alles zum Thema: August Zirner - GQ". GQ. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
^ http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/entertainment/1995/09/08/1995-09-08_broken__promise___berlin_wal.html^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Mitchell, Elvis (16 August 2002). "Movie Review - Mostly Martha - FILM REVIEW; A Single-Minded Cook Who Wakes Up to Life - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2014.