Louis Hofmann (born 3 June 1997) is a German actor. He first gained attention as the lead in the 2011 German film ' and won the Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a teenage German prisoner of war in the 2015 Danish film '' Land of Mine''. He is also known for playing Jonas in the 2017 German

Netflix Original Netflix is an American global Internet streaming-on-demand media provider that has distributed a number of original streaming television shows, including original series, specials, miniseries, and documentaries and films. Netflix's original pro ...

series ''

Dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...

''.

Life and career

Hofmann was born in the Bensberg district of Bergisch Gladbach and grew up in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. His first experience in front of the camera was for ''Servicezeit'', an evening magazine programme on

WDR Fernsehen WDR Fernsehen is a German free-to-air television network owned and operated by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and serving North Rhine-Westphalia. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" television stations that are offered within the federal ...

television network. He appeared in a section of the programme, ''Die Ausflieger'', which tested family recreational activities. After two and a half years at ''Servicezeit'', he decided to become an actor and applied to an acting agency. He was subsequently represented by Agentur Schwarz. In 2009 Hofmann guest-starred in legal comedy-drama ''

Danni Lowinski ''Danni Lowinski'' is a German legal dramedy that premiered on Sat.1 on April 12, 2010, featuring Annette Frier as the eponymous character. The show was created by Marc Terjung, who also created the legal dramedy ''Edel & Starck'', and Benedikt G ...

'' and television series ''Der verlorene Vater''. He also appeared in the television film ''Tod in Istanbul''. In 2010 he performed in ''

Wilsberg ''Wilsberg'' is a German TV series based on novels about the fictional private detective Georg Wilsberg. A first TV episode was aired in 1995, five years after the release of the first novel, starring Joachim Król. Since the second episode (aired ...

'' and '' Alarm for Cobra 11''. Hofmann's first cinematic leading role was the titular

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawyer, ...

in director Hermine Huntgeburth's 2011 German film adaptation of the classic Mark Twain novel ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the no ...

''. Along with

Leon Seidel Leon Seidel (born November 22, 1996) is a German actor. He is known for playing the role of "Huckleberry Finn" in the German film of 2011 . Life and career Seidel was born in Cologne. His talent for acting, says Seidel, he had inherited from h ...

, who played the role of Huck Finn, he sang on the soundtrack of the film in the song, "Barfuß Gehen" ("Going Barefoot"). The sequel to ''Tom Sawyer'', ' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Die Abenteuer des Huck Finn''), was released on 20 December 2012 in German cinemas. In 2013, Hofmann played a guest-starring role in an episode of the television series '' Stolberg''. Beginning on 24 October 2013 Hofmann appeared in the comedy ''The Nearly Perfect Man'' (German: ''Der fast perfekte Mann''). His role as Wolfgang in the 2015 film ''

Sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

'' (German: ''Freistatt'') directed by Marc Brummund earned him the 2015 Bavarian Film Prize as Best Newcomer Actor and the 2016 German Actors Award (Deutscher Schauspielerpreis) in the newcomer category. His first international role as a German

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

in the Danish-German co-production '' Land of Mine'' (

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

: ''Under sandet'') earned him the Best Supporting Actor prize at Denmark's Bodil Awards in 2016. At the 2016

German Film Awards German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, he received with the Special Prize

Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre SA, or simply Jaeger-LeCoultre (), is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded by Antoine LeCoultre in 1833 and is based in Le Sentier, Switzerland. Since 2000, the company has been a fully owned subsidiary ...

Homage to German Cinema presented to honour the work of German actors in international films. In 2016 Hofmann played Phil in ''

Center of My World ''Center of My World'' (german: Die Mitte der Welt) is a 2016 coming-of-age romantic drama film directed by Jakob M. Erwa, based on the 1998 best-selling novel ''The Center of the World'' by Andreas Steinhöfel. Plot 17-year-old Phil comes bac ...

'' (

: ''Die Mitte der Welt''), a

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

romantic drama film directed by

Jakob M. Erwa Jakob Moritz Erwa (born July 17, 1981, in Graz, Steiermark) is an Austrian director, screenwriter, film producer. Life After receiving his high school diploma at technical institution of higher education for art and design in Graz in June 2000, ...

, based on the 1998 bestselling novel ''

The Center of the World ''The Center of the World'' is a 2001 American drama film directed by Wayne Wang and shot on digital video. It stars Peter Sarsgaard as a dot-com millionaire who hires a drummer/stripper ( Molly Parker) to stay with him in Las Vegas for three ...

'' by Andreas Steinhöfel. He was presented with a European

Shooting Stars Award The Shooting Stars Awards are presented annually by the pan-European network organization European Film Promotion (EFP) to emerging actors from Europe. "Shooting Stars" is an initiative of the EFP for the international promotion and networking of p ...

at Berlinale 2017 by the

European Film Promotion European Film Promotion (EFP) is an international promotion organisation and a unique network of 38 national film promotion institutes who represent films and talent from their respective territories. Under the EFP flag, the members team up on in ...

organisation. In 2016, Hofmann was cast as Jonas Kahnwald in ''

'', a science fiction thriller released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on 1 December 2017. His character is one of the leads and is the main love interest for the character of Martha Nielsen. A second season was released on 21 June 2019. A third and final season was released on 27 June 2020.

Selected filmography

Television

Film

Radio

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Louis 1997 births German male child actors Living people German male film actors German male television actors