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 in the Bavarian capital. The company currently has three venues: the main stage of ...

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

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

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 ring with a picture of August Wilhelm Iffland, a prominent German actor, dramatist and theatre director of the late 18th and early 19th century. The holder, or bearer, of the Iffland-Ring is considered to be ...

since March 2019.

Career

Born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, he was trained as an actor at the Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. From 1993 to 2009 he was a member of the ensemble of Dieter Dorn, 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 la ...

, staged by , Goethe's '' Urfaust'' 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 1962) 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 ...

. Harzer has been a member of the Thalia Theatre in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

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

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an 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 explored ...

'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 closi ...

in 2006, he performed in two films, ''

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

'' by Hans-Christian Schmid 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 Uchit ...

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, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ci ...

, 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 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 Arts ( ...

of the

Akademie der Künste The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) 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 fo ...

(''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 (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first he ...

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

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

'' ''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 * 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 (Germany), Gymnasium or Universität) is not protected by law and any school or college may choose to call its ...

Filmography

Films with Harzer have included: * ''

Hades Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...

'' (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 German author Volker Kutscher. The series premiered on 13 ...

'' (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 People from Wiesbaden Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Iffland-Ring