Jens Harzer (born 14 March 1972) is a German stage, film, and television actor. He began his career at the

Munich Kammerspiele The Munich Kammerspiele (German: Münchner Kammerspiele) is a state-funded German-language theater company based at the ''Schauspielhaus'' on Maximilianstraße (Munich), Maximilianstrasse in the Bavarian capital. The company currently has three ...

, and has been a member of the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg since 2009. He has appeared at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

regularly since 2000. Harzer received prizes for roles on stage, in film and on television. He has been the bearer of the

Iffland-Ring The Iffland-Ring is a diamond-studded finger ring, ring with a picture of August Wilhelm Iffland, a prominent German actor, dramatist and theatre director of the late 18th and early 19th century, who played in works of contemporary writers Goeth ...

since March 2019.

Career

Born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, he was trained as an actor at the

Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts The Otto Falckenberg Schule – Fachakademie für darstellende Kunst der Landeshauptstadt München, or Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts, is a higher education academy in Munich training actors and directors, affiliated to the Mün ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. From 1993 to 2009 he was a member of the ensemble of

Dieter Dorn Dieter Dorn (born 31 October 1935 in Leipzig) is a German theatre director, also for the opera, the manager of the Münchner Kammerspiele from 1983 to 2001 and now manager of the Bavarian Staatsschauspiel. Career Dieter Dorn studied at the T ...

, first at the

and then at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel. He played the title roles of ' by

Bernard-Marie Koltès Bernard-Marie Koltès (; ; 9 April 1948 – 15 April 1989) was a French playwright and theatre director best known for his plays ''La Nuit juste avant les Forêts'' (''The Night Just Before the Forests'', 1976), ''Sallinger'' (1977) and ''Dans ...

, staged by , Goethe's ''

Urfaust ''Faust'' ( , ) is a tragic play in two parts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, usually known in English as '' Faust, Part One'' and '' Faust, Part Two''. Nearly all of Part One and the majority of Part Two are written in rhymed verse. Although ra ...

'' and ''

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

'', Kleist's ' and Büchner's ''

Woyzeck ''Woyzeck'' () is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. Büchner wrote the play between July and October 1836, yet left it incomplete at his death in February 1837. The play first appeared in 1877 in a heavily edited version by Karl Emil F ...

'', staged by

Martin Kušej Martin Kušej (born 14 May 1961) is an Austrian theatre and opera director, and is director of the Burgtheater Vienna. According to German news magazine Focus, Kušej belongs to the ten most important theatre directors who have emerged in the G ...

. Harzer has been a member of the Thalia Theatre 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 ...

since 2009. Since 2000, Harzer has been a regular guest at the

. Again in a production staged by Stückl, he played the role of Death in Hofmannsthal's '' Jedermann''. In 2008 there, Harzer played the leading role in a staged version of Dostoevsky's '' Verbrechen und Strafe'', staged by

Andrea Breth Andrea Breth (born 31 October 1952) is a stage director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musica ...

. In 2011, he played the role of Ich in the world premiere of

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrians, Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has ...

's '' Immer noch Sturm'' at the Festival. Harzer has appeared in 15 films since 1995. At the

56th Berlin International Film Festival The 56th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2006. The festival opened with '' Snow Cake'' by Marc Evans. Digitally restored version of Sam Peckinpah's 1972 film '' Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'' served as the clos ...

in 2006, he performed in two films, ''

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

'' by

Hans-Christian Schmid Hans-Christian Schmid (born 1965) is a German film director and screenwriter. Life and work Hans-Christian Schmid has collaborated with on several of the movies that he directed. Gutmann wrote screenplays for '' 23 — Nichts ist so wie es sch ...

and, in the title role, the drama '' Der Lebensversicherer'' by Bülent Akıncı. He won the Silver George for Best Actor at the

28th Moscow International Film Festival The 28th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 23 June to 2 July 2006. The Golden George was awarded to the Swedish film '' About Sara'' directed by Othman Karim. Jury * Andrzej Żuławski (Poland – Head of the Jury) * Alexei Uchi ...

for the latter film. Harzer was named by

Bruno Ganz Bruno Ganz (; 22 March 1941 – 16 February 2019) was a Swiss actor whose career in German stage, television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Franc ...

to be his successor as bearer of the

Republic of Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, traditionally bestowed upon the "most significant and most worthy actor of the German-speaking theatre" in the opinion of the previous bearer. Harzer was awarded the ring in a ceremony at the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...

in June 2019, four months after Ganz's death.

Awards

Harzer has received several awards, including: * 1996:

Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis is a Bavarian arts and literary prize. Selected winners Source: 2002 :Performing arts * Stefanie Dietrich (actress) * Barbara Schöller (actress) * Christian Hettkamp (actor) * Marc Oliver Schulze (actor) ...

in the category Performing Art * 1996:

Berliner Kunstpreis The ''Berliner Kunstpreis'' (Berlin Art Prize), officially Großer Berliner Kunstpreis, is a prize for the arts by the City of Berlin. It was first awarded in 1948 in several fields of art. Since 1971, it has been awarded by the Academy of Art ...

of the

Akademie der Künste The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

(''Förderpreis'') * 2003: for excellent acting, by the association Verein der Freunde des Bayrischen Staatsschauspiels * 2006: Silver George of the

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...

as ''Best actor'' for ''Der Lebensversicherer'' * 2008: , critics' selection by

Theater heute ''Theater heute'' (German: ''Theatre Today'') is a German language monthly magazine with a special focus on theatre. The magazine is based in Berlin, Germany, and has been in circulation since 1960. History and profile ''Theater heute'' was foun ...

, for ''Onkel Wanja'' * 2011: Actor of the year, for ''Don Carlos'' * 2015: for the role Friedrich Wetter Graf vom Strahl in ''

Das Käthchen von Heilbronn ' (''Katie of Heilbronn or The Trial by Fire'') (1807–1808) is a "great historical knightly play" (German: ') in five acts by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. The action of the drama takes place in Swabia during the Middle Ages. Per ...

'' at the Thalia Theater * 2017: for ''

Tatort ("Crime Scene") is a German-language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with 30 feature-length episodes per year, making it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public-se ...

'' ''Amour Fou'' * 2019:

Memberships

* 2005 Member of the

Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste in München (Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts) is an association of renowned personalities in Munich, Bavaria. It was founded by the Free State of Bavaria in 1948, continuing a tradition established in 1808 b ...

* 2012 Member of the

Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg The Freie Akademie der Künste in Hamburg e.V. is a not-for-profit association of artists, founded in 1950 by the organ-builder and writer Hans Henny Jahnn. It now includes architecture, visual arts, performing arts, literature, media Media ...

* 2013 Member of the

Akademie der Künste Berlin A German Akademie is a school or college, trade school or another educational institution. The word Akademie (unlike the words Gymnasium or Universität) is not protected by law, and any school or college may choose to call itself Akademie. A Som ...

Filmography

Films with Harzer have included: * ''

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

'' (1995) * '' Der Lebensversicherer'' (2006) * ''

'' (2006) * '' Same Same But Different'' (2009) * '' Boy 7'' (2015) * '' The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez'' (2016) * '' Long Live Death (Tatort: Es lebe der Tod)'' (2016) * ''

Babylon Berlin ''Babylon Berlin'' is a German neo-noir television series. Created, written, and directed by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Hendrik Handloegten, it is loosely based on novels by Volker Kutscher. The series premiered on 13 October 2017 o ...

'' (2017)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harzer, Jens 1972 births Living people German male film actors 20th-century German male actors 21st-century German male actors Male actors from Wiesbaden Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Iffland-Ring