Jannik Schümann (; born 22 July 1992) is a German actor. He received three Jupiter Awards for Best Actor, for his role of Danny in '' Close to the Horizon'' (2020), ''9 Days Awake'' (2021), and the role of

Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

in ''Sisi'' (2022). He is also known for his role in '' The Aftermath'' (2019), ''Center of My World'' (2016), ''Die Diplomatin'' (2016–2023), ''

Monster Hunter is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fantasy-themed action role-playing video games, beginning with first installment '' Monster Hunter'' for the PlayStation 2, released in 2004. Titles have been released across a variety of pl ...

'' (2020), ''

Tribes of Europa ''Tribes of Europa'' is a German sci-fi television series created by that premiered on Netflix on 19 February 2021. Koch has confirmed the show won't be returning for a second season. Synopsis The story is set in 2074, 43 years after a myste ...

'' (2021), or ''

Charité at War The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine; ) is Europe's largest university hospital, affiliated with Humboldt University and the Free University of Berlin. The Charité traces its origins to 17 ...

'' (2019).

Early life

Schümann was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, where he grew up with two older brothers in the rural quarter

Kirchwerder Kirchwerder () is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough of Bergedorf. It is located on the southeast border of Hamburg at the Elbe river. Geography Kirchwerder is a part of the Vierlande and is located at the Elbe river. Therefore it is ...

in the

Bergedorf Bergedorf () is the largest of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, Germany, named after Bergedorf quarter within this borough. In 2020 the population of the borough was 130,994. History The city of Bergedorf received town privileges in 1275, then ...

borough. As a child, Schümann took an interest in dancing and playing the piano, which earned him the role of young

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

in the German premiere of the Little Mozart musical at the Neuer Flora theater in Hamburg when he was 9 years old. After the performance, a

talent agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds work for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various entertainm ...

approached him at a gas station while he was buying a chocolate bar, and handed him her business card. Schümann signed a contract with her and enrolled in acting classes at the New Talent Schauspielschule.

Career

Schümann made his screen debut at the age of 11 when he made an appearance in an episode of the

medical drama A medical drama is a Television film, television movie or film in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, doctor's office, a paramedic, or any other medical topic or environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic progra ...

TV series ''The Air Rescue Team''. At the age of 12, he lent his voice to the main character of the German

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

adaptation of '' Oscar and the Lady in Pink'', a novel by

Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (; born 28 March 1960) is a French people, Franco-Belgians, Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His Play (theater), plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the wo ...

. When he was 15, he was cast in the two-part film ''Das Glück am anderen Ende der Welt''. Throughout his teenage years, he appeared in TV series, films, theater, radio dramas, and also dubbed characters in cartoon films. Schümann rose to prominence in 2011 at the age of 17 in a supporting role in ', a

cyberbullying Cyberbullying (cyberharassment or online bullying) is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Since the 2000s, it has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and adolescents, due to young people's increased u ...

drama, where he portrayed Henry who cyberbullies a classmate, the main character portrayed by

Jonas Nay Jonas Nay (, born 20 September 1990) is a German actor and musician known for starring as Martin Rauch in ''Deutschland 83'' and its sequels, ''Deutschland 86'' and '' Deutschland 89''. Early life Jonas Nay was born in Lübeck in 1990, days ...

, into committing suicide. The film received critical acclaim, winning numerous awards including the

Deutscher Fernsehpreis The Deutscher Fernsehpreis (''German Television Award'') is an annual German award for television programming, created in 1999, by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL (German TV channel), RTL and Sat.1. It was created to be an equivalen ...

for Best TV film. Schümann's performance earned him the New Faces Award nomination for Best Young Actor. In the following year, he was cast in a supporting role in '' Barbara'' as well as in ''

Mittlere Reife The Mittlere Reife (, lit. ''"Middle Maturity"'') is a school-leaving certificate in Germany that is usually awarded after ten years of schooling. It is roughly comparable with the British GCSE. The official name varies between the federal st ...

'', where he portrayed a young drug dealer, for which he was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Hessischer Fernsehpreis 2012, along with the

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

. In 2013, Schümann starred as the manipulative teenager Alev El Quamar in '' Gaming Instinct'', a drama film adaptation of

Juli Zeh Juli Zeh (, Julia Barbara Finck, née Zeh; born 30 June 1974) is a German writer and judge. She is known for novels such as '' The Method'' (2009), '' Unterleuten'' (2016) and '' About People'' (2021). Early life and education Juli Zeh is the da ...

's novel of the same name. In 2015, he was cast in the leading role of a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

teenager in ''Call Me Helen''. In 2016, he starred as the love interest of Louis Hofmann in ''Center of My World'', a gay coming-of-age drama dubbed by ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' as "a beguiling teen romance", while described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as "genuinely cute". The film received a 100% rating by film critics on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, as well as numerous international awards and nominations. It is an adaptation of

Andreas Steinhöfel Andreas Steinhöfel (; born 14 January 1962) is a German author for children and young adult books, and a translator. Biography Andreas Steinhöfel grew up with two brothers in the Middle Hesse small town Biedenkopf, and did his GCE Advanced ...

’s award-winning eponymous

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

. In 2017, Schümann was cast as the lead in the critically acclaimed

dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...

n drama ', opposite of

Jannis Niewöhner Jannis Niewöhner () (born 30 March 1992) is a German actor known for his role in the ''Timeless'' trilogy of films: ''Ruby Red'', ''Sapphire Blue'', and ''Emerald Green'', based on a book series A book series is a sequence of books having certa ...

. In the same year, he was cast as Albrecht von Schlacht in the comedy ''High Society''. In 2019, he appeared alongside

Keira Knightley Keira Christina Knightley ( ; born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters, particularly Historical drama, period dramas, she has received List of awards and no ...

in the British historical drama ''The Aftermath'', as well as in the second season of drama series ''Charité'', distributed by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. The story is set in the hospital

Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine; ) is Europe's List of hospitals by capacity, largest university hospital, affiliated with Humboldt University of Berlin, Humboldt University and the Free ...

in Berlin during

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising ...

. Schümann portrays Otto, the main character's brother, a homosexual student of medicine who opposes the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. After serving his military duty, he returns from war to work in the hospital, where he falls in love with Martin. They keep their affair a secret in fear of Martin being sent to a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

over

Paragraph 175 Paragraph 175, known formally a§175 StGBand also referred to as Section 175 in English language, English, was a provision of the Strafgesetzbuch, German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It Criminalization of homosexuality, mad ...

, a German law that made homosexual acts a crime. In 2019, the romantic drama ''Close to the Horizon'' was released, with Schümann in the leading role. He portrayed model and kickboxer Danny Taylor, a survivor of severe

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in Human sexual activity, sexual activit ...

who was infected with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

by his father. The film is an adaptation of Jessica Koch's best-selling book about her real life relationship with Danny Taylor. The film follows Jessica, played by

Luna Wedler Luna Wedler (born 26 October 1999) is a Swiss people, Swiss actress. She gained popularity by starring in the 2020 Netflix series ''Biohackers''. Early life Wedler grew up alongside two siblings in Zürich's District 6 (Zürich), District 6. S ...

, trying to navigate a relationship with a severe

childhood trauma Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences. Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and phys ...

survivor who is HIV positive in a time when there was no effective

antiretroviral medication The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of mul ...

to prevent the

HIV infection The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a preventable disease. It can ...

from developing into an

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

diagnosis. Schümann's performance earned him his first Jupiter Award for Best Actor. In the following year, Schümann appeared in ''Monster Hunter'', starring Mila Jovovich, and landed the leading role in ''9 Days Awake'', a drama film about Eric, a

crystal meth Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational or performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity d ...

addict, battling drug addiction since he was 14. Schümann's portrayal of a drug addict earned him his second Jupiter Award for Best Actor. As of 2021, he portrays Franz Joseph I. in the award-winning historical drama series ''Sisi'' with

Dominique Devenport Dominique Devenport is a Swiss-American actress who is best known as Empress Elisabeth of Austria in ''Sisi''. She has also appeared in: * "Head in the Clouds" (2012) - Toni * '' Night Train to Lisbon'' (2013) - Natalie * ''The Forger'' (2022) - ...

as Sisi. The role earned Schümann his third Jupiter Award for Best Actor. In February 2023, the series was renewed for the third season.

Activism and other ventures

On 26 December 2020, Schümann published a photo on Instagram with his partner Felix Kruck, a move interpreted by the international media outlets as his public

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

as gay. In 2021, Schümann criticized the coming out narrative and explained that he had never made a secret of his

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, stating that he only published the photo of his partner "as a signal of support for the

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

community. In February 2021, he was one of 185 actors who signed the #ActOut Manifesto, an initiative by

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

German actors to achieve visibility and diversity in film and theater. On the

International Holocaust Remembrance Day The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an list of minor secular observances#January, international memorial day on 27 January that memorialization, commemorates Holoca ...

on January 27th, 2023, he gave a speech in the

German Parliament The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the lower house of the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for ...

officially commemorating the LGBTQ victims of the

for the first time in the country's history.

Personal life

Schümann has studied

English Studies English studies (or simply, English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a dis ...

and

Media Studies Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but it mos ...

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. He wrote his bachelor thesis on queer-coding in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

films. His father and two brothers are bricklayers. He lives with his fiancé Felix Kruck in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. They announced their engagement on 3 March 2024.

Filmography

Awards

* 2012: Nomination for the New Faces Award for ''Homevideo'' (Best young actor) * 2012: Hessischer Fernsehpreis special award of the jury for ''Mittlere Reife'' (together with Isabel Bongard, Sonja Gerhardt, Vincent Redetzki, Anton Rubtsov) * 2016: Askania Award (Shooting-Star-Award) *2020: Jupiter Award – Best National Actor *2020: GQ Care Award – Best Look *2021: Jupiter Award – Best National Actor *2022: Jupiter Award – Best National Actor

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schumann, Jannik 1992 births Living people German gay actors German LGBTQ rights activists 21st-century German LGBTQ people German male child actors German male film actors German male television actors German male voice actors Male actors from Hamburg 21st-century German male actors