Daniel Brühl

Daniel Brühl
Brühl at Berlinale 2020
Born	Daniel César Martín Brühl González Domingo[1] (1978-06-16) 16 June 1978 (age 43)[2] Barcelona, Spain
Citizenship	Spanish German
Occupation	Actor, film director
Years active	1995–present
Spouse(s)	Felicitas Rombold (m. 2016)
Children	2

Daniel César Martin Brühl González Domingo (German: [ˈdaːni̯eːl ˈbʁyːl, -ni̯ɛl -] (listen); born 16 June 1978)^[2] is a multilingual Spanish-German actor and film director. He earned his first German Film Award for Best Actor for his roles in Nichts Bereuen, Das Weisse Rauschen (The White Noise) and Vaya con Dios. His starring role in the German film Good Bye, Lenin! received widespread recognition and critical acclaim and garnered him the European Film Award for Best Actor and the German Film Award for Best Actor.^[3]

He was introduced to mainstream U.S. audiences with his breakout role of Fredrick Zoller, a German war hero in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009), and appeared in such films as The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Fifth Estate (2013), and A Most Wanted Man (2014). Brühl received widespread critical acclaim and further recognition for his portrayal of former Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda in the biographical film Rush (2013) for which he earned nominations including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Critic's Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Screen Actors Guild Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Brühl portrays Helmut Zemo in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). He also stars as Dr. László Kreizler in the period drama television series The Alienist.^[4]

Brühl has worked in both European and American productions in several languages (English, Spanish, German, French, Polish and Chinese) and played at least nine different nationalities, including Polish (Ladies in Lavender), Spanish and Catalan (7 Days in Havana, Salvador), French (2 Days in Paris), Hungarian (The Countess), German (Inglourious Basterds, Entebbe), Austrian (Rush, Woman in Gold), British (Burnt), American (The Alienist) and Sokovian (a fictional Eastern European country in Captain America: Civil War).^[5][3]

Early life[]

Brühl was born in Barcelona, Spain.^[6] His father was TV director Hanno Brühl, who was born in São Paulo, Brazil, of German origin.^[7][8] His mother is Marisa González Domingo, a Spanish (Catalan) teacher. He has a brother, Oliver, and a sister, Miriam. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Cologne, Germany, where he grew up and attended the Dreikönigsgymnasium. The actor was raised in Cologne, visited Spain regularly as a child, and spent his summers in France with his cousins. Learning English in school, he grew up speaking and mastering German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and the Latin-derived Catalan.^{[9][10][3][11][12]}

Career[]

1995—2002: Beginnings, Local Success: Nichts Bereuen, Das Weisse Rauschen, Vaya con Dios[]

Daniel Brühl began acting at a young age despite not having any formal training as an actor. He participated in children’s theater at school and first earned at age 8 doing radio plays, followed by work in a dubbing studio leading to one of the dubbing actors to recommend the teenager to a talent agency. At age 15, Brühl landed a small part in the TV film Svens Geheimnis^[10], played the street kid Benji in the soap opera Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love)(1995), and continued to feature in television series the following years. In 1999, he appeared in his film debut as Checo in Paradise Mall (Schlaraffenland) and voiced Kom in the German version of Le château des singes. In 2000, he starred in his first main role as Markus Baasweiler in No More School (Schule) and was cast as Jay in Deeply.

In 2001, he continued to play main roles as Daniel in Nichts Bereuen (No Regrets), as the schizophrenic Lukas in Hans Weingartner's critically acclaimed debut film Das Weisse Rauschen (The White Sound), and as Marek in Honolulu. In 2002, he starred as Arbo in Vaya con Dios and as boxer Marko Stemper in Elefantenherz (Elephant Heart). He won the Film Award in Gold for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in the German Film Awards (2002), the Bavarian Film Award (2002) for Best Young Actor, and the New Faces Award (2002) for Best Actor for his performance in Nichts Bereuen, Das Weisse Rauschen, and Vaya con Dios. He won the German Film Critics Award (2003) for Best Actor for Das Weisse Rauschen and Vaya con Dios. For Das Weisse Rauschen, Bruhl insisted on meeting someone with paranoid schizophrenia to avoid the danger of presenting a cliche. The film has been widely cited by the academic community in discussing and understanding schizophrenia due to its realistic portrayal.^{[13][14][15][16][10]}

2003—2008: International Breakthrough: Good Bye, Lenin!, The Edukators[]

Brühl in 2004

His international breakthrough role came in 2003 as Alex Kerner in the German tragicomedy Good Bye, Lenin! which became one of the most successful German films to date, receiving nominations at the Golden Globes Awards and the BAFTA Awards and winning at the European Film Awards, German Film Awards, Cesar Awards, and London Film Critics' Circle among others. It was sold to more than 65 countries, reaching an estimated six million cinema-goers worldwide. In that year, Brühl won awards including the European Film Awards Peoples's Choice Award for Best European Actor and the European Film Award for Best Actor for the role. He also won the Film Award in Gold for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in the German Film Awards for both his performance in the film and in Elefantenherz. He then voiced Kenai in the German version of Brother Bear.

Brühl reached further recognition in 2004 reuniting with filmmaker Hans Weingartner and starring as the anti-capitalist activist Jan in the internationally successful film The Edukators (Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei). The film became a cult film as part of a "German New Wave" and received a 10-minute standing ovation at its premier at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Bruhl earned a nomination for the European Film Award for Best Actor for his role and at the same time won the European Film Awards Peoples's Choice Award for Best European Actor for his role as Paul in Love in Thoughts.

In the same year, Brühl made his English-speaking film debut in Ladies in Lavender, starring alongside English actresses Judi Dench and Maggie Smith as Andrea Marowski, and met Queen Elizabeth II who attended its premiere.^[10] He also played Frank in Farland. Brühl featured as Lieutenant Horstmayer, a central character in the 2005 film Joyeux Noël, a trilingual World War I film based on the experiences of French, German and Scottish soldiers during the Christmas truce of 1914. The film shows Brühl's linguistic ability as he ably communicates in German, French and English throughout.

In 2006, he was invited to be part of the short film and Cinéfondation juries of the Cannes Film Festival. He starred as Chris in Cargo and Karl in A Friend of Mine, voiced Lightning McQueen in the German version of Cars and reprised his voice-over role as Kenai in the German version of Brother Bear 2. In Cannes-nominated film Salvador (Puig Antich), he played Salvador Puig Antich, a Spanish anarchist executed during the Franco era, marking his first time acting in his second language.^[10] In 2007, Brühl made a cameo appearance in 2 Days in Paris, a romantic comedy film directed by French actress Julie Delpy. He appeared in a small role as Martin Kreutz in the film The Bourne Ultimatum. In 2008, he starred in the British-Russian production In Transit, in which he played a young Nazi soldier named Klaus opposite John Malkovich. He also played Tonda in Krabat, which was based on a popular German children's story, and Marcos in A Bit of Chocolate.

2009—2015: Critical Success: Inglourious Basterds and Rush, Filmmaking venture[]

In 2009, Bruhl starred as Dr. Georg Rosen, a notable member of the International Safety Zone Committee in Nanking, China, in the German-Chinese-French biographical film John Rabe. He played Amaro in Las madres de Elna, István Thurzó in Julie Delpy's third directorial film The Countess, Tobias Hardmann in Dinosaurier, and David Kern in Lila, Lila. He was introduced to mainstream U.S. audiences in the role of Frederick Zoller, a German war hero in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, starring Brad Pitt, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival to widespread acclaim. The film won multiple awards and nominations, among them 8 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. He and his co-stars won ensemble cast awards including the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In May, Brühl decided to become active in a different field of filmmaking by launching the production company Fouronfilm together with Film1.^[17]

In 2010, he starred as Rupert in King's Road (Kóngavegur 7) and as Hans Krämer in The Coming Days (Die kommenden Tage). In 2011, he played Álex Garel in Eva, Konrad Koch in Lessons of a Dream (Der ganz große Traum), the Oak Fairy in 2 Days in New York, and Dirk in All Together (Et si on vivait tous ensemble?). He also co-starred with Clive Owen in the horror thriller Intruders directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.^[18] In 2012, he starred as Iván Pelayo in Winning Streak (The Pelayos) and as a Spanish businessman in 7 Days in Havana.

Portrait by Oliver Mark, Berlin 2015

In 2013, he co-starred in The Fifth Estate, a film based on the founding of WikiLeaks in which Brühl played co-founder Daniel Domscheit-Berg alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange.^[19][20] In the same year, Brühl portrayed former Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda in the Ron Howard biographical film Rush opposite Chris Hemsworth.^[21] The film was a commercial and critical success, and for his role, he received multiple award nominations, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Critic's Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Screen Actors Guild Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

In 2014, he starred in A Most Wanted Man as Max, in The Face of an Angel as Thomas, and in the series The Trip as a patron at Terrace Bar. In 2015, Bruhl presided over the Berlinale jury along with Darren Aronofsky, Audrey Tautou, and Bong Joon-ho among others.^[22] He starred as young writer Sebastian Zöllner in Me and Kaminski and as Austrian investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin in the biographical drama Woman in Gold alongside Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. He co-starred with Emma Watson and Michael Nyqvist in Colonia, a thriller by Academy Award winner Florian Gallenberger and produced by Academy Award nominee Benjamin Herrmann.^[23] He also played maître d'hôtel Tony Balerdi in Burnt alongside Bradley Cooper.

2016—present: Captain America: Civil War, The Alienist, Falcon and the Winter Soldier[]

In 2016, he starred as Escherich in Alone in Berlin, and convicted murderer Jens Söring in Killing for Love. Brühl played the Marvel comics supervillain Helmut Zemo in one of the most critically acclaimed films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: Civil War (2016). In Niki Caro's World War II film The Zookeeper's Wife (2017), he played Nazi zoologist Lutz Heck, who forces Jan and Antonina Żabiński to abandon the Warsaw Zoo. He starred as Ernst Schmidt in The Cloverfield Paradox and as Wilfried Böse, a founding member of the German organization Revolutionary Cells, in the action thriller film Entebbe (7 Days in Entebbe) which recounts the story of Operation Entebbe. Since 2018, he has been playing the title role as Dr. Laszlo Kreizler in The Alienist, an American period drama series based on the 1994 novel by Caleb Carr, alongside Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning. He received a nomination for Golden Globe Award as Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film in 2019 for his role. He then played fertility physician Thomas in My Zoe (2019). In 2021, Bruhl directed and acted as Daniel in Next Door (Nebenan) and reprised his role as Helmut Zemo in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.^[24][25] His dancing in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier got released in the Zemo Cut.^[26]

Acting style and public image[]

Bruhl, who is a German and Spanish national, has played at least nine different nationalities (Polish, Spanish and Catalan, French, Hungarian, German, Austrian, British, American and a fictional Sokovian) and in his films has spoken English, Spanish, German, French, Polish and Chinese (comfortably in the first four mentioned). His multilingualism gives him the edge at the casting shortlist for every global European male part.^[3]

The roles Bruhl takes on are often complicated characters drawn in a extensive spectrum of grays, often guys who are suffering with a deep-seated darkness that threatens to weigh down their inherent humanity. Brühl is capable of spanning a range from protagonist to antagonist with poise and grace, totally disappearing into his characters.^[12] Asked about being typecast as a villain after taking on an increasing number of antagonistic roles, Brühl amusingly responded that though it was a privilege to have made Good Bye, Lenin!, it was also a 'curse' because he 'was always offered the part of the sympathetic nice guy' and was refreshed and relieved when offered villain roles outside of Germany. Baron Zemo becoming one of the most iconic villains in the Marvel cinematic universe despite having no superpowers owes to Bruhl's ability to bring a blend of Slavic and Germanic accents and cultural backgrounds to his role. Film School Rejects remarks, "Even when embodying the role of a Nazi or another nefarious villain, Brühl manages to bring out the character’s humanity — no matter how little of it there actually is." The Hollywood Insider said, "He went from consistently playing the love interest in European Cinema to playing the villain in Hollywood; that is not a typical arc in an actor’s career," and observed that the actor shares Zemo's strength of patience in breaking through Hollywood after being subjected to antagonist roles despite his filmography proving his broad range not only in linguistics but also in performance.^[12][27][28]

Gastronomy[]

Since 2011, Brühl has been the joint operator of a tapas bar in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin called Bar Raval.^[29] From February to October 2017, he was joint operator of a similar bar in Prenzlauer Berg, named Bar Gracia after Barcelona's nightlife district Gràcia, but the bar closed in October 2017 because of little economic success.^[30][31]

Personal life[]

Brühl and Rombold at Berlinale 2018

In 2006, Brühl separated from his longtime girlfriend and later fiancée, actress Jessica Schwarz, whom he had met on the set of the 2001 film No Regrets.^[32] Since 2010, he has been in a relationship with practicing psychologist and former model Felicitas Rombold.^[33] They have a son together, Anton Hanno (b. October 2016),^[34] and married sometime between his birth and early 2018.^[35] The couple had a second son in 2020.^[36]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Television[]

Awards and nominations[]

Books[]

• Brühl, Daniel; Cáceres, Javier (2012). Ein Tag in Barcelona. Berlin: Ullstein Verlag. ISBN 978-3-550-08832-2.
• Brühl, Daniel; Gonzales, Atilano (2014). ¡Tapas!: Die spanische Küche der Bar Raval. Königswinter: Heel Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86852-950-0.

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website
• Management Daniel Bruehl

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel Brühl.

• Daniel Brühl at IMDb