Jan Niklas (born 15 October 1947) is a German film and television actor. He is best known for appearing in
TV films such as ''
Peter The Great'', ''
Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna'' and ''
Anne Frank: The Whole Story''. He won a
Golden Globe Award for his appearance in the TV miniseries ''Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna''. He also played in the
Hungarian film ''
Colonel Redl
''Colonel Redl'' (german: Oberst Redl (original title); hu, Redl ezredes) is a 1985 biographical drama film by Hungarian director István Szabó. The plot, set in the period before World War I, follows the rise of Alfred Redl, an officer in the ...
'' which was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Early life
Jan Niklas was born on 15 October 1947 in
Pottenstein, near
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, Germany. After attending boarding school in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, he took acting classes in London, then he completed three years of acting classes at the
Max Reinhardt Academy in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
.
Career
Niklas made his first television appearance on an episode of the German TV series ''
Sonderdezernat K1'' as Juniorchef. After playing in a couple of TV films and miniseries he slowly gained popularity. His breakthrough came in 1985, when he was cast in supporting role in
István Szabó
István Szabó (; born 18 February 1938) is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director.
Szabó is one of the most notable Hungarian filmmakers and one who has been best known outside the Hungarian-speaking world since the ...
's war film ''
Oberst Redl''.
In 1986 he was cast to portray a young
Peter the Great in the miniseries ''Peter the Great''. A lot of newspapers and magazines stated that it was Niklas' performance that made the miniseries so believable, and the ''
Miami Herald'' stated: "It’s Niklas’ vigorously effective portrayal of the younger Peter that hooks a viewer into caring about this legendary figure. Due to his energetic performance the first two parts of “Peter the Great” are the most absorbing".
''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
'' stated that Niklas was the Discovery of the year in 1986.
Niklas received a
Golden Globe nomination for
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, but lost to
James Woods
James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his work in various film, stage, and television productions. He started his career in minor roles on and off- Broadway. In 1972, he appeared in ''The Trial of the ...
(''
Promise'').
However, later that same year, his "style and flair" was recognized throughout the industry,
and brought him to the historical drama ''Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna'' in which he portrayed Prince Erich. ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' called it "a performance worth remembering".
Niklas won the
for his performance.
After this, he appeared in films such as: ''
The Rose Garden'', ''
Dr. M'', ''
Red Hot'' and ''
The House of the Spirits''. He stayed unnoticed for a while, until in 2001 he was cast as
Fritz Pfeffer
Friedrich "Fritz" Pfeffer (30 April 1889 – 20 December 1944) was a German dentist and Jewish refugee who hid with Anne Frank and her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. He perished in the Neuengamme concentration camp in ...
in the
Emmy Award-winning miniseries ''
Anne Frank: The Whole Story''. This was, according to ''
The Detroit News
''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...
'', "completely believable".
His latest appearance was in the German film ''
Die Zeit, die man Leben nennt
Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life.
Die may also refer to:
Games
* Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers
Manufacturing
* Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
''.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Wins
* Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV (for ''
Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna'')
Nominations
* Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV (for ''
Peter the Great'')
References
External links
Official website*
Jan Niklasat
Yahoo! Movies
Yahoo! Movies (formerly Upcoming Movies), provided by the Yahoo! network, is home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Yaho ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niklas, Jan
1947 births
Living people
Male actors from Munich
German male television actors
German male film actors
20th-century German male actors
21st-century German male actors
Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (television) winners